Futari no Himitsu
by Threya Midnight
Summary: Nanami Haruka was just a normal girl that suddenly got asked out by the school idol Ichinose Tokiya. It's been four month since they started dating, and yet Haruka felt as if she didn't know anything about her boyfriend. But things got out of hand; she got more than what she wished for. "Please don't tell anyone. This will be a secret between the two of us."
1. Chapter 1

**Because I can't keep my hand still xD Now that I finished Date with Haruka Week, I need something new to keep up with my writing frustration. So here it is. A new series XD Yay.**

**Disclaimer: I will only say this once throughout the series, I do not own Uta no Prince-sama.**

**English is not my native tongue, actually, far from it xD Lol. If you find any mistakes, tell me please so I can fix it. Thank you.**

* * *

Chapter 1:

How it happened

In Saotome Academy, the school has their weird tradition that the school election starts at the _end _of the school year rather than the start. The second year students who plan to be in the student council in their third year do their campaign before the school year ends. Saotome Shining planned this because he thought it would be better to select the new officers before the summer break starts, so during the summer, those officers will have two months to prepare on what to do for the new school year. And when the classes start, he expects that they have something good in their sleeves.

Anyone would think that someone like Nanami Haruka wouldn't bother herself with this business. It's obvious that she has no plans on running as a member, she was too shy to go in the crowd and far too clumsy to have the school matters thrown to her shoulders.

But she should. She was _forced_ to be bothered with this event. Why? Here's the reason why:

On the day of the meeting de avance, one of the candidates for presidency, Ichinose Tokiya, came up to her before his speech.

"Nanami-san,"

Haruka stopped walking and turned around; she was planning to go to her respective seat when someone called her name. She was surprised to see that it was no other than Mister Perfect, so surprised that she wondered for a moment if it was really _her_ he was calling.

Ichinose-san has been popular in their school since he started studying here. He was smart, athletic, and handsome. He also had this cool, mysterious air around him that made girls swoon for him. They never became classmates not even once, so how he even_ knew _her name was a big mystery to her.

"_H-hai!_" She straightened her back and answered stiffly; it was obvious how nervous she was that other than her best friend, Shibuya Tomochika, was calling her name. Let's add the fact that this person was no ordinary one, he's one of the school idols and will most-likely win for presidency because of his popularity.

He chuckled. "You don't have to sound so nervous."

The rosette blushed, lowering her head. "_Y-yes_."

She heard him laugh once more, golden eyes peered up only to see a serious look on his face and his eyes were intense. This made her heart beat fast, she really didn't understand why such a popular guy was wasting his time talking to her rather than preparing his speech.

"I'll be straight to the point." He said firmly, Haruka gasped. _This man meant business_. "Because anytime soon, I'll be called to go up on the stage to talk so…"

The rosette nodded shyly, unable to do anything else.

"When I win, _be my girlfriend_."

Golden eyes widened, she opened her mouth to respond. Her face became as red as her head, hands clutching on the ribbon of her school uniform. _Aren't you being too sudden? _She wanted to say. But it was all too late; the speaker started paging Tokiya's name. He nodded at her, before passing by. She stood frozen in place, unable to react. When his intense aura disappeared, Haruka turned around only to find him already standing on the podium on stage.

The rosette shook her head and decided to go back to her seat; the teachers would scold her if she remained standing in the middle of the dark gym hall. As soon as she found where her classmates were placed and she found her seat, Tokiya seemed finish fixing up his mike and his speech papers. Haruka didn't know if it was because of the darkness, but she had a glimpse of those papers and it was actually _blank_. Either way, he was about to start. He looked at each student with a confident smile, only to stop to meet her gaze. It was only for a split second, but she knew it was _her_ Tokiya smiled at. He looked straight forward, clearing his throat.

"Good morning classmates, students, teachers, and school personnel…" And his speech started.

Behind Haruka, she felt someone tapped her shoulder. She didn't have to guess who it was.

"Haru-chan," Tomochika Shibuya, her and only friend, whispered to her ear. "I saw that! What did Mr. We-already-know-he's-the-next-student-prez say to you?"

Golden eyes continued to stare at the person on stage; he seemed like a star in the middle of this dark galaxy. Shining brightly, just his mere words were enough to know that he's a responsible person.

"He asked told me that if he wins… I'll be his girlfriend…" Haruka whispered; voice unfocused.

"_What?!_" Tomo-chan said louder than intended, the people around 'sh-ed' at them. She scratched the back of her head and apologized. She moved closer to her best friend and whispered. "Haruka, are you _sure?"_

"I don't know." She answered honestly. "I think I'm dreaming, if so, wake me up…"

Behind her, Tomo-chan kept on exclaiming her disbelief. The rosette didn't actually understand what she's saying; all her words just passed through her ears. This couldn't be happening… This was all too random. Just so… weird.

And as expected, Ichinose Tokiya won as president. Vice-president was Hijirikawa Masato. Secretary was Jinguuji Ren. Treasurer was Shinomiya Natsuki. And so… It wasn't surprising that all the winners were part of STARISH, it was the name they called for Ichinose's group of friends. The only reason why the three other members of their group wasn't part of the student council is because they ran out of seats for them or they just didn't want to join…

But that didn't matter; she was _officially _Ichinose Tokiya's girlfriend starting this day on. She didn't know whether to be happy or not. She wasn't really one of his fan girls, true she admires him for being such a role model, but other than respect she felt nothing more. The first time they talked was the time when he asked her out. Haruka didn't even know that the bluenet knows about her existence! So to be her girlfriend out of a sudden was a little…

After a few days, it was already summer break. Tokiya didn't try to contact her or go to her house the whole two months. No, even if there were still classes, he didn't go to her class after school or _whatever_ boyfriends should do with their girlfriends. Haruka wondered if she was only imagining things during that day… If it was, then she can finally take a deep breath and relax. She got worked up for nothing! She was so stupid! As if one of the most popular boys in school would ask out a nobody like her out of nowhere! Things like that only happen in fiction! What did she think; she's some _heroine _of some romantic comedy anime or something—

Summer break just ended. Nanami Haruka is officially a third year student. She walked her way to her school when she saw Ichinose Tokiya waiting outside the school gate. As soon as he saw her, blue eyes widen. He walked towards her and offered to carry her bag; Haruka said he didn't need to.

"I'm sorry for not talking to you after the election." Tokiya apologized, golden eyes widened in surprise. As expected from Mister President, straight to the point as usual. "I immediately got busy with student council work."

Haruka nodded, walking slowly as they headed to the board to find which section they are.

"Ah," The bluenet gasped, she turned to meet his expression. "I'm also sorry for not contacting you last summer. I…" He paused, a blush on his face as he turned away. "I didn't know your email _or _your home address…" Tokiya leaned against a wall, a dark depressive aura emitted from his body. "I'm such a failure as a boyfriend…"

The rosette laughed nervously, shaking her head. "No, it's fine, Ichinose-san. Don't worry about such trivial things!"

_Boyfriend… huh?_ Haruka repeated in her mind. _So we really are…_

He immediately straightened up, the light in his eyes immediately returned. He smiled at her, sparkles flew out of nowhere. She faltered back, this man was too bright!

"After the entrance ceremony ends," He said seriously. "We _must _exchange addresses"

Haruka forced a smile and nodded.

_So it really wasn't… a dream…_

It turned out; they were in the same section.

Haruka wanted to start and end this school year with no problems. She just wanted to graduate and go study at some good university and go on with her mundane life. But it seemed that her dream cannot be granted…

"Nanami." He called her out in a cool voice.

She stopped walking. Mechanically, she turned around. A smile was on her lips, sweat dropping.

"Ichinose-san." She tried to sound calm, even when the people in the hall were staring and whispering at them. She even heard some girls saying 'slut' or something. "I thought the student council had a meeting today."

He smiled, and on cue, Haruka heard some high-pitched squeals. She turned around accusingly; girls were talking to each other, 'minding their own businesses'. She sighed and faced the bluenet in front of her. He asked if there was something wrong, she shook her head and told him to continue.

"It was cancelled because of the upcoming exams next week." He explained. "The teachers said we should start reviewing so… yes."

Haruka nodded. "I… see."

"Speaking of exams," He brought up out of nowhere. "Would you like me to tutor you?"

Haruka gasped, she also heard some gasps around her. She turned around once again, glaring at the nosy girls around them. They decided to back off, walking away from them. The rosette sighed; it was disturbing how they didn't have any privacy whenever they were talking.

"Um… you don't need to." Haruka forced a smile. "I'm fine on my—"

'_Ungrateful bitch,' _Someone whispered behind her.

'_I know right,' _Someone's friend snorted. '_Tokiya-sama was willing to help her even with his busy schedule and yet she's… tch!'_

The rosette felt a nerve popping on her head. Seriously, she _didn't _need it! As mentioned before, she's always at the top 10 when her results come out. So it was really unnecessary for her to—wait a minute, Ichinose-san is the top of their year. Maybe she could get some tips for the upcoming college exams…

"Yes," She smiled brightly. "I would appreciate your help."

Tokiya smiled and patted her on the head.

"I'm glad." He sighed in relief. "I really wanted to spend time with you. We've been dating for four months and yet we still haven't gone to our first date. We only spend time together only at school… And I'm afraid to say we _barely_ spend time together even here. So to hear that you're fine with it… makes me happy."

Haruka felt blood rushing to her face. "I-is that so?" Even if she doesn't have those fan girl feelings for him, she's not going to lie that he makes her heart skip a beat on a lot of occasions. Especially times like this when he's being serious.

"You live alone, right?"

She didn't know why he was asking this, but she nodded anyway. Her father was already dead, while her mother has her new family abroad. She grew in the countryside with her grandma, but now she got accepted in a good high school in the city, her mother was willing to pay for her rent on her own apartment.

"Then it's decided!" Tokiya declared. The rosette wondered if she missed something while she was daydreaming for a few second. "We're going to study at your room on Sunday!"

"_WHAT?!" _They all said in unison.

Haruka closed her mouth, she didn't even bother to say anything. The fan girls already said her thoughts out loud.

The bluent blinked innocently. "Is it me or are they listening to our conversation?"

_If you only knew…_

* * *

**How is it guys? Is it worthy to be continued? This is just a trial, so please tell me your reactions. Reviews are always welcome! Criticism is even _better_! But don't flame me. I get easily hurt, so please don't tell me to 'kill myself' or 'this shit is written by some teenage brat!'. Gladly, I'll tell you that I am xD Haha. Lol. I'm just joking. Really. It's fine. Now, reviews pleasee!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Her everyday life

Nanami Haruka woke up with a yawn.

She started her day at exactly 6 in the morning, prepared her food and cooked it, while waiting for her toast to get finished she would go to the bathroom and take a bath. At the exact time she finished changing to her school uniform, the toaster would ring, and after a few minutes, the oven as well, which meant her blueberry muffin and toast was done. She sighed, returning back to her kitchen to get her food. She placed her breakfast on a plate, before putting that plate on the table. She went to the sink, soaped her hands and washed it. After patting her hands dry, she went to get a chair, dragging it on the ground to create much noise as possible, before sitting on it.

"_Itadakimasu_…" The rosette said to no one in particular, digging in.

In other words, it was another normal day for the rosette.

Haruka lived alone since she started high school in Saotome Gakuen, since it was in the city she was forced to transfer here and leave her grandmother behind in the countryside. The school was famous for its high-quality education and its good standards, most students would dream on studying in this prestigious school while she enrolled her because she found out that her deceased father used to study here.

…Her parents?

It was mentioned before that her father died when Haruka was still a young girl. She doesn't really remember much about him, aside from she knew that he was a good father. Her grandmother, the mother of her father, told Haruka that his father was a great surgeon. He was also smart.

_Just like you_. Obaa-chan's voice echoed in her head.

Haruka stood up and opened her fridge, taking out a bottle of water before sipping on it.

While her mother, as sad as it may sound, the rosette knew _nothing _about her! Judging by how her aunts and uncles used to treat her, Haruka guessed that she was a bastard. As soon as she was born, her mother probably shove her to her father's arm and ran off to God knows where. Haruka found out that she's currently living abroad, with her own happy family.

Haruka was completely forgotten.

She returned back to her chair, continuing her meal.

The rosette has never even seen her in real life; she only had a glimpse of her from the old photos her father stored in the attic of their old house. If Obaa-chan told her she had the brains of her father, Haruka admitted she had the looks of her mother. She also had this long fiery red hair just like her. Judging by the smile on her face as they posed for the picture, Haruka guessed that she was a cheerful person. A cheerful person who didn't use her head, who got into trouble, who made a stupid mistake and couldn't handle it so she irresponsibly left Haruka to her father's care.

Haruka doesn't plan to be like her.

_Ever_.

As much as possible, she wanted to be like her dad. Otou-san was smart, he was responsible! He saved many people as a surgeon, and most importantly… he saved _Haruka_.

Ever wondered why Haruka's eyes were an odd shade of yellow? She was born _blind_. Well, not _completely_ blind, but might as well be. What did she mean by that? Well, do you know that feeling when water gets into your eye? Your sight gets kind of blurry, right? But in Haruka's case, no matter how many times she blinked, that 'water' didn't disappear. Because it didn't exist in the first place. As she grew older, her condition got worse. It went from 'water in her eyes' to 'opening her eyes while face was submerged on water'. To those people who don't know that feeling, it gets blurry at first but your sights clears up once your eyes adjust to it, but imagine that under that water was an unending darkness. You can see shapes that are moving, but you really don't know what they are.

It wasn't really her father, who operated on her, for Otou-san was a specialist on brain surgery, it was one of his friends from work. But Haruka knew that if it weren't for his influence, no one would try to study her condition and everyone would have branded her as 'hopeless'.

So she wanted to thank her father by following his foot-steps, starting from studying on the same school he used to study at. She wanted to help some helpless girl like her, bringing her hope that she can actually live a normal life—

"_Piyo-piyo_!" Her phone rang. "You're going to be late! Piyo!"

Haruka blinked, fishing out her phone in order to check the time. 7:20, it said. How she wasted so much time just thinking about her parents, that she doesn't know. She shook her head, returning her phone on the pockets of her pleated skirt. She dumped al her plates on the dishwasher, washing her hands on the faucet. She went inside her bathroom and brushed her teeth. After that, she went to her study table and took her school bag. She ran out of the house, closing the door behind her.

_I'll be taking my leave_.

* * *

Haruka walked every day to school.

It was really uneventful. Nothing peculiar happened. She didn't meet up with her friends on her way, because her only friend was Shibuya Tomochika. Waiting for her wasn't really a good idea because she often wakes up late…

Hm? How did she manage to befriend such girl?

…How did she? Now did she think about it, they just became friends… _naturally_. They were seatmates back in their freshman year and Haruka guessed… they grew on each other?

Tomochika was the opposite of Haruka. Tomo-chan was this confident and cheerful ray of sunshine. She was outgoing and friendly to anyone, she also had great taste in clothes. Haruka found out that she had a lot of boyfriend since middle school, which made her a 'love expert' in class. If this was some cliché romance comedy, you'd expect Tomo-chan to be the heroine of the story. While as usual, the silent types like Haruka are just some unimportant background characters who were only here just because the story would suck with just a small amount of cast.

The rosette sighed.

But even if Haruka was just some unimportant background character or some stupid NPC in some game, it didn't really matter. As long as she served her role, then it's fine. As long as her role promised a simple life then she's fine with it.

She's happy the way she is.

Without even knowing it, she finally arrived at the school gate. And as expected…

"Nanami." Ichinose Tokiya said calmly.

"O-o-ohayou…" Haruka greeted shyly. "Ichinose-san."

It must have shocked most of you, how different she talks in her mind and how she talks with other people. In her mind, she sounded like some down to earth chick. But in real life, she's this shy girl who would rather die than speak her thoughts aloud.

As usual, Tokiya would offer to take her bag. And as usual, Haruka would decline the offer. Honestly, she didn't understand why he keeps on asking this question to her everyday morning if he knew what her answer would be.

"Let's go?" He asked.

The rosette nodded.

* * *

This school year, they got into the same class. While sadly, Tomo-chan was in another section. Every morning, they would walk their way to their classroom. No one would say anything; they would just walk in total _silence_.

If Haruka was the bubbly type, this would have irked her. Actually, if she was a _normal_ person, walking with him every morning with this deafening silence would be _extremely_ awkward. But she was the person who preferred the silence so this was like how usually walks to her class alone. Most of the time, she would _forget_ that Tokiya was walking beside her until—

"Kaichou!" A voice from behind them called.

As usual, one of the student council's messengers would go to him and inform him that once again, there were some issues in the student council. It seemed because the meeting yesterday was cancelled, a problem from before has yet to be resolved. The bluenet sighed, excused himself and leave. Haruka continued her way to their classroom, but now that she was alone, the people around her openly gossiped about her.

"I really don't understand why Tokiya-sama's dating her…" Somewhere on the left of the hallway said.

"I know right."

The rosette sighed, ignoring them. Like the _usual_. She didn't understand how they got the energy to gossip about her _every _single morning; it was tiring even for Haruka. But let them talk all they want, as long as they didn't do anything that would physically harm her then everything's fine.

Haruka opened her classroom door, muttering a soft 'ohayou'. And like the usual, no one would greet back. She headed to her sit in silence, not minding that no one cared for her arrival.

After a few minutes, it was almost time. Almost everyone was present, except the teacher, Tokiya, and the other members of the student council. Haruka wondered what the student council were doing that they needed its members so early in the morning

"Ohayou, Kaichou!" One energetic voice shouted out loud.

Everyone turned to the door; there the handsome president was standing. Everyone shouted their greetings, showing their respect to the guy. Tokiya would smile, wave his hand, and greet politely.

"Ohayou, minna-san."

Cue, fan girls squealed. While Haruka remained on her desk, silent as ever. His blue eyes paused to look at her, smiling at her. She smiled back, before returning to what she was previously doing: staring at nothing in particular.

Seriously, this has been really bothering her. Is it _normal _for people dating to do that? The only interaction they have was walk their way to class, but it would always be cut short due to some emergency. When they're in the classroom, all they do was smile at each other but they never talked unless they needed something from each other. Which, apparently, was almost _never_.

Haruka never had a relationship before. Heck, she doesn't even _talk _to the opposite gender before because all they did to her when she was younger was teased her with her abnormal eyes! So now… she's dating someone… they just seemed like an odd pair. Ichinose-san never said anything about this so she assumed it was alright…

"Stand up!" The class representative ordered, everyone followed. It seemed like the teacher has already arrived.

And so another day at school started. This was her every day life.

* * *

**Hi guys. Sorry for not updating in a long while. Life's... a little hard on me lately. So if you've realized, the 'humor' (I'm _trying _to be funny, I _trying_) here disappeared completely. SO guys, this chapter shows, as mentioned in the title, Haruka's every day life. I would love to go to the _ichaicha _moments as fast as possible, but don't you prefer seeing a bit more of our heroine?**

**I also want to emphasize how 'non-existent' their interactions are. You know, Haruka being the social awkward girl she is, while Tokiya... you can guess for now because I'm still not planning to show his personality until some 'occurrence' happens.**

**I think it's obvious, but I'm planning to give Haruka a _personality. _No one deserved to be a doormat, what they did to her in the anime was mean. Seriously.**

**Sorry for the mistakes in this chapter, I was trying to write this while listening to a K radio show. Dude, I was _sure_ it was K and then Sugita suddenly mentioned Uta no Prince-sama, and Miyano was like, 'Maji de?' while Sawashiro was '1000%!' Needless to say, I could barely understand them but it was amusing while it lasted. Oh yes, I while ago, I watched this DURARARA! (Did I miss any -ra?) live event and was amused to see Miyano and Sawashiro acting like lovers xD They were so cute, it would have been believable if I didn't know the fact that Miyano has married someone since, i dunno, 5 years ago. He also has a son. But still, somwhere in my mind, MiyanoxSawashiro is canon, which immediately makes TokiXHaru canon as well xD**


	3. Chapter 3

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter Three

Say my name

And before she knew it, it was already Sunday.

Nanami Haruka released a sigh, taking out the newly baked chocolate chip cookies from the oven. She grabbed a few plates from the cupboard and placed it on the table. Using the holder, she carefully placed the cookies on the plate. Once she was done, she went to her fridge and took out two slices of strawberry shortcakes and two sans rival, placing them beside the cookies. She also prepared the glasses, but decided to keep the fresh orange juice inside the fridge until Ichinose Tokiya arrived. Once she was done, she stared on all the food she laid on her kitchen counter.

You might have realized all of them were sweets. As sad as it may sound, Haruka _didn't know_ what kind of food Tokiya likes to eat. Yes, she knew she was an embarrassment as a girlfriend. But honestly, she didn't have the guts to ask him. It's _stupid, _she knew. She can't ask her boyfriend what's his favourite food just because she's _scared_ of started getting comfortable around each other, but the rosette admitted she still felt nervous around him. 'Nervous' in a sense of 'I-am-in-a-presence-of-a-stranger' kind of way, not 'nervous' in an 'I-am-with-the-person-I-love' feeling.

She admits that she has a hard time talking with other people. Heck, even reciting in front of class suffocated her. She liked acting as a 'silent character' because no one would notice her no matter what. But with Tokiya, she thought it was wrong to do the same so therefore she acted _more _stiff around the guy. If Haruka acts like some robot around other people, imagine what she does whenever she's with Tokiya. Her only actions around him were this: force a smile, force a laugh, keep silent, answer politely, force a smile, force a laugh, keep silent, and answer politely again.

Most girls would want to be in her shoes, Tomo-chan would always remind her whenever Haruka tells her about the hardships of going out with Tokiya. But can you blame her, she doesn't have feelings for the guy and yet she's forced to be his girlfriend for Kami-sama knows the reason why! It also wasn't helping that she started getting bullied because of their non-existent love for each other. Maybe the bluenet has feelings for her, but for Haruka… just _nothing_.

Maybe she would slowly gain feelings for him if she knew something about him aside from, she doesn't know, his _name_. Like his birthday, his age, his favourite food, whatever. Just _anything_! This was frustrating for her! Heck, she knew more about the life of Shakespeare than this man! In the first place, she wanted to know why he asked her out-

Her doorbell rang; Haruka removed her gloves and hanged it.

"_Ma-machinasai_!" She shouted weakly, the former strong voice in her head disappeared and was replaced by an ever so shy girl.

She headed towards the door and opened it, there in front of her stood Ichinose Tokiya. He smiled gently at her, that usual smile he had only when in front of her. Her heart couldn't help but beat fast again, nervousness was eating her away. Here he was again, with his _radiance_. He was wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and blue sneakers. This was the first time Haruka saw him wearing his normal clothes; he looked model-like no matter what he wore. Because of this, the rosette felt conscious with her looks. It only occurred to her now that she didn't bother change her clothes, she only wore her usual house clothes. She was just wearing a pink t-shirt with a Piyo-chan design and blue shorts. Haruka was never the type to dress up, and she wasn't like Tomo-chan who made her clothes looked well because _she _was the one wearing it.

"C-c-come in…" Haruka whispered.

Tokiya nodded, "Sorry for intruding," He said politely before taking off his shoes and placing them on the shoe rack. She handed out some guest slippers to him, he took it with a 'thanks' and wore it.

The rosette closed the door behind them; it made her even more nervous because she realized that they were truly alone now. She made a gesture, telling him to go inside. Tokiya nodded, entering her apartment. Now that she thinks of it, she didn't fix her apartment beforehand! She was too busy preparing for their snacks that she forgot to—

"You have a nice place, Nanami-san." He said, looking at her furniture with great interest. "It's pure and simple, just like you."

Haruka blushed, rubbing the back of her head. "T-thank you… I…"

She looked at her room, she was happy to say she takes good care of her apartment. Though it wasn't really big, but it was enough for a single teenager like her. As soon as you enter her apartment, you'll immediately a TV and a white sofa and a table in front of it. A few steps away from the sofa were her study table, as well as her bed. There was also a door, leading to her rest room. On the right, there's the kitchen and the dining room. Just that. Nothing too grand, but it contained all the necessities she needed in order to live.

"It's amazing how you can live in an apartment on your own." Tokiya said as he sat on the sofa, placing his backpack on the table and bringing what seemed like notes and reviewers he made for her. "Don't you get lonely sometimes?"

"I-it can't be helped." Haruka whispered politely. "I got accepted in a famous school in the city, so I of course I have to transfer here... Though I admit, I get a little… l-lonely sometimes. I just keep in mind that Obaa-chan is cheering me on so I c-can pass through anything!"

"Wow." Tokiya rubbed his chin in amazement.

The rosette blinked, unable to comprehend his reaction.

"D-d-did I say something w-weird?"

He shook his head, she sighed in relief. When she was younger, most people would tell her that she always say things that doesn't make sense or just plain stupid for her age to say. So when she grew older, she learned to keep her thoughts to herself. But when someone asks her for things like that, she can't help but say what she truly felt.

"It's not that." Tokiya smiled. "I'm just surprised… that you're quite a _naïve_ person!"

Haruka deadpanned. He smiled again. After a few seconds, her reaction came. Red eyebrows furrowed, cheeks puffing up and plump lips formed a pout. Hands formed a fist; slippers stomped angrily on the ground.

"_T-t-that's rather rude of you, Ichinose-san_!" Haruka shouted, her voice was so high her voice cracked. She blushed and turned away, covering her lips. "No, I-I'm s-s-sorry I—"

"This was the first time I heard you speak a lot."

Golden eyes dilated, Haruka was taken aback. "Uhm, t-that's…"

"I thought it was normal for you." The bluenet said. "That you always speak so little and you always stumble with your words."

The rosette played with the hem of her shirt, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. So it _wasn't_ normal! It wasn't normal to have a non-existent conversation with your boyfriend. Knowing Tokiya, he probably was trying to be nice and wasn't forcing her to speak. It really was _her _fau-

"But you were just holding back. _Especially _when you're with me."

Haruka stopped, like a deer caught in the headlights. Slowly, she looked up to meet his gaze. That was the exact word. _Holding back_. He was looking at her with a sad expression on his face. Abruptly, he stood up and grabbed her wrist.

"Why, Nanami-san?" His grip on her wrist tightened. "Why are you holding back? Aren't I your boyfriend? Shouldn't you be more relaxed around me—"

"It's because I'm around you that's why I get even more tensed."

Sapphire eyes widened, a soft gasp escaped from his lips. Haruka bit her lips; she refused to look at him. There, she said it. Because he's asking for it, she won't hold back anymore. She's going to say it no matter what his reaction will be.

"I-I, mean think of it." Haruka whispered. "The first time we talked was the time you asked me out! You didn't even let me think about it, I think you already _knew _that you're going to win so… don't you think you were being unfair? And now we're d-d-d-dating," _Talk about stammering too much_. "But we don't know that much a-about each other. We're practically _strangers_ if you look at it realistically. So please don't expect me to act like how I usually act around my friends because I think of you now more than any other person I'm not close with."

There was a moment of silence. The hand around her wrist slowly loosened, until he completely removed it and it fell silently to his side. The rosette screamed internally. She was too honest, right? She _was_, right? Was Tokiya offended with what she said? Of course he is, you idiot! Oh no, this was the reason why she preferred being silent!

"But tell me, Nanami."

Haruka looked up, her eyes meeting his. Upon seeing his expression, she immediately regretted what she said. His blue eyes were hard, as if angry but depressed at the same time. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, which showed that he was displeased. But even if his expression was a mix of all heavy emotions, his tone was incredibly calm. It was scary.

"Do you… love me?"

She blinked slowly, unable to process what he just said.

"Eh?"

"Please." He closed his eyes, looking down. "Be honest with me."

Haruka gulped. She inhaled and exhaled, wondering if it was right to say this. But he was asking for it, right? In her 17 years of living, this was probably the first time someone asked her to be honest with anyone. She should say it. She _must_.

"No." She shook her head. "It's hard to love someone you barely even know. "

There was another moment of silence. Haruka wondered if she was too hard on him. Who knows, maybe it'll turn him off or something.

Suddenly, he laughed.

Haruka blinked. That came out of nowhere.

"You're unexpectedly harsh, Nanami."

The rosette looked down, a blush on her face.

"I-it's unfair, Ichinose-san." She whispered. "That you're asking me this all of a sudden. How about you, why did you a-a-ask me out in the first place?"

"I don't know."

"_YOU DON'T KNOW?!"_

Tokiya laughed again, the rosette glared at him. "This is the second time in this day that you shouted at me!"

Haruka looked away, a blush on her face. "I-it's not my fault. I thought you were a calm, reasonable person. But it turns out… you're like _this_."

"Don't worry; _I _thought you were this silent, shy maiden. But it turns out, you're like this."

An angry nerve popped on Haruka's head.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not what you expected!"

"Indeed." He replied calmly. "You _really _aren't what I expected."

Golden eyes widen, she opened her mouth to retort but was stopped when she felt a pair of arms wrap around body. Every witty thing she wanted to say flew out of the window when she inhaled his scent. It was… so_ Ichinose-san_. It was making her light-headed.

"But I love you even more because of it."

Haruka stood frozen; her face became a bright shade of pink. W-was that a love confession? T-t-omo-chan used to tell her that hearing the words 'I love you' isn't that great as she thought, but she beg to differ. This was… making her twitterpated.

"I love you, even if you don't. But I'll do everything to change your mind." Even if she couldn't see face, she was sure that Tokiya smiled. "I'm not asking you to love me immediately… I want you to fall for me slowly as you learn different things about me." Tokiya cupped her face, making her look at him. "You said that you can't love me now because you don't know anything about me… then, let's fix it. Ask me anything and I'm going to tell you."

Haruka stared. This was sudden. _As if their relationship itself wasn't sudden_, she thought. She blushed, looking down. Well, he did say she can ask anything so she might as well do it. This has been bothering her for a while, so she should just ask him straight out.

"Do you like sweets?"

Tokiya blinked. Hesitantly, he shook his head.

"No… As much as possible, I don't eat them."

Haruka's mouth fell open. She took a few steps back away from him and face palmed.

"Something wrong?" Tokiya asked nervously.

"All the snacks I prepared for you are sweets." She answered glumly, dark aura emitted from her body. "I even went through all the effort to buy them yesterday…"

"Eh?" He sweat dropped. "N-no, it's alright… I'll eat them."

Haruka looked at him with glittering eyes. "_Really_?"

He smiled and nodded.

She beamed at him, before going straight to the kitchen.

"How about let's eat first before we study?" She suggested. "I'm getting kind of hungry…"

"Whatever you prefer." Tokiya smiled. "Either way, you're already taking out the snacks to there's no point for me to say this."

Haruka chuckled, carrying the plate on both hands. On her left hand was the plate of cookies, while on her right was the cakes.

"Do you want me to help you?" The bluenet asked politely.

Haruka shook her head, placing the cakes on the table. Tokiya stared in awe, dumbfounded on the number of sweets on the table.

"You're not joking when you said all of them were sweets." He said, sitting on the sofa.

Haruka smiled, before sitting right next to him. She took a piece of cookie from the plate, munching on it. "Because you know, eating food with carbohydrates can help you study a lot because it makes the brain active."

"Hm." Tokiya nodded. "But it can also make you gain weight. Most girls of your age are careful with what they eat while you…"

He faltered, seeing that the rosette was devouring the cookies like some animal.

"Hfer you syain' sumthingrh?" Haruka said, bits of cookies were on her face.

"Eat like a pig…"

Red eyebrows furrowed, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Well, unlike _those girls that are the same age as I_," Haruka grumbled. "I actually know that millions of people in the world are starving, so because Kami-sama was kind and gave me the privilege to eat, I'm eating as much as I can _for _those people who are starving!"

"You're just making things up so you can get away with your gluttonous ways!" Tokiya sighed, rubbing his temples in annoyance. "And don't you think those people who are starving are angrier with what you're doing?"

Haruka looked away, pouting. She grabbed another cookie from the plate, eating again. The bluenet thought there was no use lecturing her, so he decided to dig in. He took a cookie from the plate and ate it.

"Wow." Eyes widened in awe. "This is good! Where did you buy them?"

"'Baked them." Haruka answered, licking her fingers to clean off any crumbs.

"Really?" Tokiya gaped. "You know how to cook?"

She nodded.

"Obaa-chan thought me before I went to study here."

The bluenet 'hm'-ed, eating the cookie in silence. After a few seconds, the rosette spoke.

"Somehow…" Tokiya looked at her, only to see a blush on her face. "Talking like this with you feels nice."

He smiled. "Me too. I've always wanted to hear you talk normally. You were always so nervous around me."

The blush on Haruka's face darkened.

"It can't be helped!" She said defensively. "You're this popular guy at school while I'm…"

Tokiya looked at her, only to see that her expression darkened. He knew what she was going to say, 'a nobody'. He scooted over, placing his arm around her shoulders.

"An awesome girlfriend." He whispered to her ear, making her shiver. She pushed him away, the bluenet chuckled.

"_Please don't say that word so recklessly_."

"What word?" Tokiya feigned ignorance.

"_T-that_ word…" Haruka blushed again.

"Oh, you mean g—"

The rosette shoved her hand on his face, stopping him from saying anything embarrassing. She stood up, deciding to do something to get his teasing over with.

"I'm going to grab some spoon and some glasses for our drinks." She went to the kitchen and grabbed some utensils.

Tokiya smiled, now that they're somehow closer, he felt like teasing her over and over again.

"Why didn't you take bring them out a while ago?" He pointed.

"As you may remember," The rosette answered from the kitchen, there was a hint of annoyance in her voice. "My hands were full a while ago."

"Your hands became full as soon as you became my _girlfriend._"

"_ICHINOSE-SAN_!"

Tokiya laughed, while the rosette continued to grumble. He then looked at the reviewers he brought out a while ago, proud of his hard work. He hoped that Haruka will learn a lot from this and help her have a higher grade. After a few minutes, Haruka has yet to return. He wondered what happened.

"Nanami-san?" He called out, standing up from the sofa. "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Haruka shouted, she was tiptoeing as she rummaged through the cupboard. "Just… having a hard time… getting the glass… Can't reach it…"

He smirked. "Because you're short?"

"_You're so mean!_" She shouted again. "I actually _can _reach it! Here, I—"

* * *

Because Haruka was trying hard, she managed to grab the glass. Only for it to slip from her hand.

_Crash_

Golden eyes widened. Oh no, this was Obaa-chan's gift for her after she got accepted in Saotome! She knelt down, taking the shards on the—

"Ouch!" Haruka winced. She looked at her finger and saw a trail of red. She grimaced and went to the sink. She placed the other glass on the counter as she rinsed her hand to clean any bacteria that may-

"You're bleeding." Tokiya whispered to her ear.

Her back immediately straightened. She turned around warily, how did he get here in a blink of an eye? She didn't even hear any footsteps—

"Lemme clean yer hand."

Before she could protest, Tokiya grabbed her hand and placed it inside his mouth. Haruka gasped, blood rushing to her face.

"_Ichinose-san_!" She squeaked. "You don't have to do that! As you can see, I'm already—_ah_!"

An unwanted moan escaped from her lips when she felt Tokiya's tongue lick each and every finger in her hand. As he was doing it, he was looking at him with a teasing look on his face. Haruka started feeling weird.

"I saw ya a while." He whispered while he sucked. "Didn't ya lick these fingers when ya were eating those cookies? Were ya perhaps teasing me a while ago?"

Haruka shook her head. "T-That wasn't my—_ah!—_intention!"

He chuckled and finally stopped. The rosette sighed in relief, if he continues this she might not take it anymore and—

Tokiya pulled her closer, burying his face on the curve of her neck. She shivered as she felt his warm breath against her skin.

"That's a nice sound coming from yer lips." He started sucking on her neck, Haruka gasped again. "_Iyarashii no koe_."

The rosette blushed, looking away. He laughed darkly, grabbing her face and forcing her to look at him. She struggled, her whole body was shaking.

"W-what are you doing?" She whispered. "Ichinose-san?"

Tokiya smirked, crushing her jaw and forcing her mouth open. Haruka groaned, tears were falling from her eyes.

"I'm not the Ichinose you knew."

She continued failing against his grip, hands on his chest as she pushed him away. Why was he doing this? Why was Ichinose-san forcing himself on her?

"_Hora~!_" He leaned, just a few more centimetres and their lips would've touched. "Say my name, Ha-ru-ka-chaaan~!"

"W-wha aah yo… sayin…?" Haruka tried to speak, but it was hard because of the hands on her jaw.

"_Just do it_." His grip tightened, the rosette moaned in pain. "If ya got it right, Imma gonna set ya free~! But if ya wrong… Imma _punish_ ya~"

She didn't know what he was planning, but decided to play along. She nodded; Tokiya removed his hand on her jaw so that she can speak properly. She gulped before the forming saliva in her mouth before answering.

"Ichinose Tokiya-san."

Suddenly he grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards her room; Haruka was pushed to her bed. Golden eyes widen, she knew where this was going.

"_Zannennagara…_" He said in a sing-song voice. "You got it wrong."

A hand crept under her shirt, while another went to unbutton her shorts. Haruka panicked, tears falling from her eyes. She knew it was stupid in the first place to let a man inside her apartment, but she expected too much from Tokiya. She thought he was a gentleman who wouldn't do such things… but she was wrong. This was…

"I bet ya haven't done it with him, right?" Tokiya sucked on her neck, leaving red marks behind. "Knowing how much of an uptight bastard he is- Oi! Don't struggle damn it!"

He grabbed her hands and forced it on the headboard. Haruka continued crying, she couldn't believe this was happening to her! Ichinose-san… they were talking and laughing a while ago! Then suddenly… why was he doing this?

"Don't make such a face, Ha-ru-ka-chan~!" He whispered, trying to sound gentle. But she knew better. "Ya should be glad your first time is with me, because if it was with him… I promise ya he's such a cherry boy, _nyaa_! But with me… I'm gonna make ya scream and moan for more until midnight comes, _nyaa_!"

Should she be glad about this? What the heck is wrong with him?! Who was 'he'?! WHY WAS TOKIYA TALKING WITH A 'nyaa' IN THE END OF EACH SENTENCE?!

"Hm… Ya should at least know who's going to take yer first time." He stopped what he was doing; instead he looked at her with a cheerful smile. "The name's _Hayato-han_! _Yoroshiku~!_"

"Fuck you."

"Nah-ah!" The bluenet wagged a finger. "It's you who's going to be fucked, _nyahahaha_!"

Haruka gritted her teeth. With all the strength she had, she raised her legs and kicked him.

"_A-bunaiii, nyaa!"_ Because of some miracle, he managed to dodge her kick. "You shouldn't be—_nyaa!"_

She continued kicking like an idiot. She didn't even know what she was planning to kick; she just went on some kicking spree. After some intense struggling, Haruka accidentally knocked out a picture frame on the wall. How her kick managed to reach that high, that she didn't know. Anyway, the picture frame fell from its handle and it landed to the floor with a loud crash. The sound of glass breaking echoed throughout the room.

It surprised both of them, neither moved for a while. After a few seconds, Tokiya looked down. Blue orbs widened, he scrambled off the bed like _Haruka _was the one who tried to rape him. The rosette fixed herself, staring at the male who was currently looking at her in horror.

"Ichinose-san…" She whispered.

"I'm sorry." He cried. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. _I'm sorry_!"

Haruka went out of bed, she tried to get closer but Tokiya shouted at her.

"Please don't come any closer!" He covered his face. "I don't want to hurt you. Pleae. I'm sorry. That wasn't me. That wasn't me. Please believe me!"

She blinked.

_Okay, this was a weird turn of events._

* * *

**I warned you. Things would be OOC starting from now on. Those people who couldn't bear it, you can take your leave. But people who STILL wants to see more, _dozo_. **


	4. Chapter 4

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter Four:

A game called avoidance

Slender fingers ran against the red marks on her pale neck, Nanami Haruka couldn't help but sigh. She grabbed a scarf from her drawer and wrapped it around herself. Good thing it was almost autumn, people wouldn't judge her clothing style. If it was still summer, no doubt they'll think of her as odd. As if she wasn't in the first place.

After the near-rape incident, Ichinose Tokiya ran out from the apartment. While Haruka was left dumbfounded, still sitting on her bed. After she got over her shock, she continued her Sunday like what they were supposed to do: review for the exam. Because of the reviewer Tokiya has left behind, it was much easier to study. Whenever she stopped to take a break, her mind would go to what happened a while ago.

"Ichinose-san was acting weird…" The rosette whispered, rummaging through her bag as she fixed her things before she went to school.

When he first arrived at the apartment, Tokiya was acting like his usual-self. When they started talking, he was more carefree than his usual stern and cold aura he emitted. But maybe it was because they were out of school; Haruka guessed that he needed to act like a role-model student in front of the other students…

The rosette shook her head.

That's not the point! After that, Tokiya had a complete flip of personality. Haruka blushed just thinking about it. He… sucked on her fingers in a very erotic way, running his tongue around her fingers while looking at her with such an intense gaze…

Haruka buried her face inside her bag, hiding her embarrassment.

At first, she thought he was just teasing her. It made her happy, that Tokiya was showing his _true _side to her. That the cold and perfect _kaichou_ can actually play around with his girlfriend… But she realized that something was wrong when he said started sucking on her neck. She thought it was odd, that a few minutes before that, Tokiya said that he'll wait for her to fall in love with him. But suddenly, he was doing that? And let's add the fact he started hurting her, crushing her jaw and forcing her mouth open.

But what she really thought was weird was when he told her to say his name. Of course, she said 'Ichinose Tokiya'. Then he pushed her on her bed and told her she was wrong. This was when things got _really ugly_. By this time, Haruka noticed that he was speaking with a 'nyaa' after each sentence. Like a person with a _kansai_ accent. He also mentioned someone being a 'cherry boy' and uptight. But what boggled her mind was this:

"The name's Hayato-han! _Yoroshiku~!_"

* * *

As usual, Haruka walked her way to school.

She was contemplating whether to talk to Tokiya or not. What do rape victims do after they get raped? Do they… avoid their assailant or do they talk to them or something? Obviously, it was the former. Haruka has never been raped before, so she didn't know. Not like she ever thought she'll get raped, anyway.

She arrived in front of the school gate. A part of her was expecting that Tokiya would be standing there, for some reason. It has been their morning routine to wait for each other, so to find him gone was a little…

The rosette entered the gates silently.

Walking along the hallways of the school without him by her side made her feel lonely. Isn't it weird, when something's gone then will you realize how important it was to you?

"_Kaichou!_"

Golden eyes widened, shoulders grew stiff. She slowly turned around, making sure if he's _really _there. Indeed, there he was. He was smiling professionally, talking to a student in a calm voice. It was weird, seeing him like this. Tokiya was _so _different yesterday… he was so relaxed. Haruka was glad that he showed his true side to her. His teasing but sweet side. He—

… _Tried to rape me_.

Haruka gasped, all the memories from yesterday came crashing to her mind. He was so scary, talking in that manner. Threatening her that he'll do something to her. Just the mere thought of it sent shivers to her spines.

_But there was something wrong. _She said to herself. _He was _acting _wrong._

It would be Haruka's decision whether to ran away in fear or confront him for what happened. She knew it would not make sense if she talked to him, saying 'So, about yesterday, you tried raping me' or something. But if she didn't, things would remain unresolved.

She knew _she_ was unusual. Normal victims would not hesitate to run away from the spot upon hearing the name of their attackers. But something _just wasn't right_. Ichinose Tokiya wasn't the type to do such things, she knew!

She trusted him.

And the words that he said after attacking her. Haruka knew he was saying the truth.

'_That wasn't me'_

"_Ichinose-san_."

Blue eyes widened, he spun around upon hearing his name. His expression was a mixture of shock and confusion upon seeing her face. The rosette waved her hands awkwardly, unsure what to say after calling him.

"Ichinose-san," Haruka repeated. "I—"

He took a step back and turned around, running away from the scene as fast as possible. Everyone stared at him as he passed by, maybe because he looked like he was running away from a Titan or simply because it's against the rules to run around the hallway and yet he, the student council president, was doing it. Either way, the rosette stood dumbfounded, hands fell silently to her side.

_He's avoiding me…?_

* * *

The whole day, Haruka tried talking to Tokiya. But to no avail.

Every time she tried, he would immediately feel her presence nearby and walk away. Even when they got in a group activity, Tokiya just _refused _to talk to her at all cost.

_This was ridiculous! _Haruka wanted to scream. _He__ tried to rape me and yet he had the AUDACITY to avoid me the whole day?!_

She decided to wait until lunch time until she attempts to talk to him again.

But even _before_ **freaking** lunch time came…

"Members of the student council…" The school speakers rang aloud, catching everyone's attention. "Please proceed to the student council room immediately."

In their class, there were two members from the council. Of course, you have Ichinose Tokiya, the president. And also Shinomiya Natsuki, the treasurer. Both of them stood up, excused themselves, and left the room.

"Just great…" Haruka face-desked.

The whole afternoon, they didn't return. It seemed like they didn't have the time for another meeting this week because the exams will start on Wednesday, so they decided to finish all the planning today.

What were they planning for?

The school festival, _of course!_

"_Minna_!" Ringo-sensei chirped, clasping his hands together. "You should all do your best in the school festival for our student council! The teachers talked to them to take a breakbecause we have exams this week, but they insisted on finishing all their planning today to make sure that our school festival is a success! Our student council this year is as good as last year, I'm glad they're all responsible!"

The class started murmuring.

"As expected from this year's student council!"

"Not only are they hot but also responsible!"

"Don't you think they're just skipping classes…?"

"I think so, too…"

"SHUT UP, YOU LOSER! You're just jealous of our Tokiya-sama!"

"And Natsuki-sama!"

"Why you…!"

"Okay everyone!" The feminine teacher clapped loudly, catching their attention. "Let's continue our discussion!"

Haruka sighed, looking outside the window.

_I need to talk to him_…

Before she knew it, Ringo-sensei's class ended. She didn't even know what it was; she was busy worrying about what happened yesterday. After his class, it was Ryuuya-sensei's turn.

Most students felt intimidated with this guy. Well, who wouldn't? He was a teacher with a great build and a very handsome face. You might accidentally mistake him for an action star or something; rumor has it he really _was_. Either way, try guessing what subject he's teaching. Great body meant physical education, right? But sadly, no. He was teaching _mathematics_. Haruka always found it funny, how this scary muscle-man teacher was teaching this kind of subject. Either way, he is a great teacher who knew how to teach his stuff efficiently so Haruka had no complaints.

"I forgot to bring your last quiz papers…" Ryuuya-sensei scratched the back of his head. "Anyone care to volunteer to get it in the faculty?"

Surprisingly, or should Haruka say not so much, almost _half_ of the female population in the class raised their hands. Because of his looks, you can say he has quite a large fan base in their school. But Haruka couldn't careless; she continued staring outside the window.

"Eager aren't we?" He smirked, making most of the girls in class fangasmed. "Uh... let's see, Nanami-san?"

That made her jump from her seat. Obviously, she didn't raise her hand. But maybe Ryuuya didn't want to make his fan girls' hopes up so he decided to pick his shyest student in class.

"Y-yes?" The rosette answered shyly, like how she usually does in school.

"Can you get the last quiz paper of your class in the faculty room, if it's alright with you?"

Haruka looked down, but nodded anyway.

"Stupid bitch…!" One of her female classmates growled.

"She already stole Tokiya-sama from us and now…"

"_She's planning to take Ryuuya-sama as well?!" _They all said in unison.

The rosette sweat dropped, as well as the male students in class.

"I kind of pity Nanami…" Someone whispered.

"Yeah… Why does a normal girl like her receive so much hate?"

_Why oh why, indeed. _Haruka groaned internally, going out of the classroom. "Excuse me for a moment; I'll be taking my leave." She bowed politely before closing the door.

"_Hope you'll never return_." Someone near the door hissed.

* * *

"Thank you for the help, Tsukimiya-sensei." Haruka bowed politely.

Ringo shook his head, waving his hand in dismissal.

"It's fine, Haruka-chan." Hearing that endearment made her froze. "I know Ryuuya's such a slob sometimes, mixing up the student's papers without a care in the world!"

The girly teacher was kind enough to help Haruka find their papers. He wasn't joking when he said Ryuuya tended to mix-up the test papers! She saw that the papers of the first years and the third years got mixed-up, while the second years had all the papers stuck in one place, not even trying to fix which test paper goes in which section. Haruka even saw Kurosaki Ranmaru-senpai's old math test paper, and this guy graduated _a year ago_!

"I hope he doesn't get mad that I took so long…" The rosette looked down, nervousness evident on her face.

Ringo smiled at her, giving her a 'peace-sign'. "Don't worry, Haruka-chan! I'll be the one to talk to him if he scolds you! It's his fault in the first place for being so sloppy!"

She laughed nervously, bowing once more as she said her gratitude. She went out of the faculty room and closed the door behind her. She sighed, carrying the heavy stack of test papers in her hand as she went back to her classroom.

"Oi! _Omae_!"

Haruka stopped abruptly. She turned her head to the side, surprised to see that she was standing right in front of the student council room. Now that she thought of it, the faculty room and the SC room were three rooms apart…

"Jinguuji Ren!" Someone shouted angrily. She guessed that it was the supposedly 'calm and collected' vice-president, Hijirikawa Masato. "You! Why are you slacking off?! Don't tell me you attended this meeting just to skip classes!"

_So the guys in my class were right…_ Haruka deadpanned.

"Eh…?" A deep but smooth voice grumbled, obviously this was Jinguuji Ren, the secretary. "But this is a lot of work! How do you expect me to write all of this—"

"But you're the secretary." Someone pointed. This voice was unfamiliar, she didn't know who—

"_Otoya_." Haruka jumped upon hearing his stern but calm voice. "Why are you in the student council room? You're not even part of it."

"_Eh_?" It was Ittoki Otoya's, she finally remembered, turn to grumble. "Tokiya~! You're so mean~!"

"_Get out_." Ichinose Tokiya ordered, there was a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Haruka placed her hand on her chest, her heart was racing fast. Just hearing his name made her feel so weird, she wondered why. She shook her head, she better go back to their classroom if she doesn't want to be scolded. Even if Ringo promised to help her, it was no excuse to be later—

"Okay, fine!" The door suddenly slid open, revealing a pouting Otoya while pulling a small blond on his right hand, Haruka assumed he was Kurusu Syo. "But I'm taking Syo with—Eh?"

Haruka blinked, staring back at his crimson eyes.

"You're…" Before Otoya could finish his sentence, he was shoved to the side.

In front of Haruka was a tall blond man, though he was part of the student council he wasn't wearing his uniform properly. His icy blue eyes widened when he saw her, he smiled seductively and took the hand that was on her chest.

"My, my." He whispered, placing her hand on his lips. "What's a lost little lamb doing here?"

"I… uh…" Haruka tried to speak, but no words came out of her mouth. This was the first time she spoke with a boy this year that's not Tokiya or wasn't a teacher! This was embarrassing.

"Could it be…?" He let go of her hand, leaning down to meet her height. "You're skipping classes just to see me?"

Haruka shook her head defensively. _How obnoxious!_

"Of course not!" Otoya shove Ren out of the way, now he's the one standing in front of the door. "Are you perhaps looking for the president?"

The rosette turned as red as her hair. She didn't really have any purpose on why she stopped in front of this room. But now that she's given the chance to talk to him, she's not planning to waste it.

"Y-yes…" She nodded shyly.

"You're looking for Icchi…?" The blond forced his way on the door; they looked like cramped sardines in a can in their current position. "Man, I thought you're one of my—"

"_Kaichou_!" The red-haired male shouted. "Someone's looking for you!"

"Someone…?" Though she couldn't see him, she was sure he was in front of the long table fixing some papers. "Class is—"

"She's some pretty little lamb!" Ren shouted back. "You gotta tell me where you met her!"

"Little lamb?" Tokiya sounded confused. "What are you—"

"It's me, Ichinose-san. Nanami Haruka."

For some reason, the lively room dropped a few temperatures. The two went out of the door and allowed her to pass; she slowly entered the room with a nervous look on her face. Exactly as she thought, Tokiya was doing some papers. But now, he was too busy staring at her wide-eyed.

"Nanami-san…" He whispered, this got her hopes up that they could finally talk properly.

The bluenet shook his head, his expression returned to the cold façade he always used in school. She felt like her heart got crushed when he nonchalantly returned to his papers and acted as if he didn't see her in the first place.

"Oi, Tokiya…" Otoya called, pitying the rosette for his cold treatment.

"Throw her out of the room."

Eyes of different colours widen. Haruka released a gasp; it felt like someone knocked the air out of her. Why… why was he doing this…? Why…?

"Hey look Icchi," Ren said angrily. "You can't just do that to a girl! She came all the way to see you—"

"Meeting is still on session." Tokiya answered coldly. "She can approach me later."

"Ichinose." Masato spoke, after a long time of idleness. "It's okay, we can finish the paper works. You can go take a break and talk with—"

"_I said_," The bluenet shouted. "There's time _later._"

The room suddenly became silently. Everyone stared at the bluenet, it was the first time they saw him lose his cool. Even if they have been a group since long ago, Tokiya was always the calm type along with the other bluenet. But this was unacceptable! He was being rude—

"When is 'later?'"

Everyone's attention reverted to the small rosette. She spoke in a slightly louder voice they never knew a shy girl like her was capable.

"After class—"Tokiya answered but was cut off.

"Yes, after class. But even if I try talking to you, you'll just avoid me like a plague."

Blue eyes widened, he looked away in guilt. They all stared at her in amazement. This was the first time someone cut Tokiya off. Everyone knew his words are absolute, so to see this presence-less girl talking back to their 'leader' was a little…

"Nanami," Tokiya tried to sound calm. "Please not here—"

"_But where_?!" Haruka shouted, tears were welled up in her eyes. "I tried talking to you almost _everywhere_ but you kept on running away! So tell me, where?!"

The room was silent again. The bluenet released a heavy sigh, just as when they thought he was going to give up and just talk to her already, he returned his gaze back to the stacks of paper on the table. He started writing on it, before he passed it to Masato.

"Hijirikawa-san." He said. "There are some errors here. Please do it again."

Haruka's hand formed a fist, crumpling the papers she was carrying. Her blood was boiling in anger. He was doing this to her even if _she _made the effort to hear him out? She… she can't believe this. She—

"… Expected more from you."

This made him stop writing. He momentarily looked up just to check if she's planning to leave or not, but couldn't look away when he saw the look she was giving him.

"I thought there was more in you that meets the eye, Ichinose-san. I thought you had a _reason_ for doing that, because you didn't seem like the person to do _it_." Haruka whispered, tears tricking on her face. "That was why I went to all the effort just to talk to you, _to hear you out_." She looked away, biting her lips. "But I guess I was wrong… completely wrong. Good thing you finally showed me your true self because if you didn't..."

Haruka grinned at him; more tears fell from her eyes. All of them felt their chest tightened, she looked so _pathetic _right now.

"_I might have fallen in love with you_."

With that, she turned around and ran off.

* * *

_**I'm not even joking, for the nth time I accidentally wrote 'Date with Haruka week' at the title lol xD Haha. Have you guys read that story? It's a HarukaXSTARISH, try to check it out when you have the time :) Talk about advertising an old story. Anyway guys, ANGST ANGST ANGST. Oh my gosh, when was the last time I did that? On my Naoto's new persona days of course, that's one of my other stories. If you guys are familiar with Persona 4, then try checking this out, too. But I won't promise you that it's good, I wrote it when I was 12 years old HAHA. I'm not joking.**_

_**About the fixing the paper scene, that happened to me in real life but in a different scenario. I went to the faculty room for some reason, then my scary Lit teacher told me to help her stack up the old 'bible reflections' we do at school. I'm not joking when I say it was CHAOS. From Grade 7-Fourth Year, the papers were mixed. I even saw a couple of our ALUMNI's papers. Imagine that, they graduated and all that but they still haven't received their old projects lol.**_

_**On other news, have you guys heard about Oz to Himitsu no Ai? It's a new drama CD series by Rejet (The same maker of DiaLovers). What's so special about it, wellll, it has MIYANO MAMORU in it! Dude, I was shocked! Because Mamo rarely do drama CDs. and it's DUMMY HEAD MIC ohmygoshIdonteven. The last time I heard him in a drama CD with DHM was Kannou Mukashibanashi or something, I think that's the name. Come to think of it, that's the ONLY drama CD DHM Mamo has. If you include the UTAPRI Sasayaki Tokuten whatever which I did not enjoy so I do not consider but whatever, then it's 2. Lol. Tatsun, Hirarin, Shimono, Takahashi Naozumi and Kondo are also part of the cast. Why am I advertising this? Because it's FUUUUN! I'm happy right now, don't judge xD Writing this chapter made me tear up a little, because I'm a sap.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter Five:

The Truth And Only The Truth

"Nanami-san," Hyuuga Ryuuya-sensei called as soon as the rosette returned, but there was no hint of anger or annoyance in his voice. "Care to explain why took you so long?"

_I went to the student council room and screamed at the president, sir_. Nanami Haruka looked down with a blush on her face. But of course, she wasn't going to say that. Even though that's one of the reasons why she got later than expected, her real reason was…

She walked closer to their math teacher and handed out the papers, he took it without saying anything. She took a deep breath before she spoke.

"I-I-I'm really sorry, sensei," Haruka said softly, so that the other students can't hear her. "I d-d-don't think it would be appropriate to say it out l-loud so I'll rather whisper it to y-you."

He nodded, telling her to go on.

"I couldn't f-find the papers at first because the papers of the first years up to the third years got m-mixed up." Blue eyes widen, an unusual tint of pink painted on his cheeks. "I hope you would not get m-m-mad, but with the help of Tsukimiya-sensei, we separated the tests by years and section." She bowed in apology. "P-p-please f-f-forgive me for I have touched your things."

"Stand up," he ordered, the rosette followed. "It's alright, Nanami-san. It seemed like it was my fault why you got late. But to think you fixed my things…"

She was surprised to feel a hand patting her head. Golden eyes shyly peered up, only to choke on particularly nothing when he saw the scary math teacher smiling warmly at her.

"You're such a good kid," he said in a soothing voice. Haruka didn't know if it was her imagination but she thought her heart skipped a beat. "I think that'll be a great help to the other students as well."

_Other students you'll also order to get their class papers_, Haruka completed his sentence in her mind. She shook her head and smiled.

"It's my p-p-pleasure to help. But I think Tsukimiya-sensei deserves a share of your gratitude."

The smile on his lips disappeared; the hand on her head fell silently to his side. He released an annoyed sigh before looking away.

"Of course," He grumbled. "Ringo."

Haruka thought she heard Ryuuya-sensei mention the other teacher's name menacingly. It was well known in their school that these two are close friends, but judging by the tone of his voice, it was probably more of they're stuck with each other without a choice.

"You may now return to your seat."

She nodded and turned around, the first thing she saw was the threatening glare all her female classmate were giving her. She sweat-dropped and returned back to her seat, ignoring all their evil auras.

"Did you see that?"

"She's acting all shy and stuff to get sensei's attention."

"Such a slut."

"Once she's done with Tokiya-sama I bet she's going to target the other members of STARISH!"

Haruka sat on her chair without another word, resting her elbow on the table while her hand was supporting her chin, as she once again stared outside the window. It actually made her wonder, how she managed to adapt to her new surroundings. Before, no one took notice of her. But now, her small actions seemed like a great threat to the world or something—

Everyone turned as they heard the door being harshly swung open. As soon as they realized who it was, the classroom was filled with cheers.

"_Kaichou_!" They greeted, she became tensed upon hearing the title. She slightly turned her head to the side to make sure if it really was him, only to see the bluenet catching his breath as if he ran after her. The ache in her chest ebbed away.

Ichinose Tokiya went straight to where the she was sitting, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her out of the room. Behind them, Ryuuya was shouting where the hell they were going but Tokiya didn't even let him finish, for he slammed the door shut and continued dragging her towards Kami-sama knows where.

O~o~o~O~o~o~O

"Ichinose-san!" Haruka protested. "What are you—"

Tokiya stopped abruptly, causing the rosette to bump unto him.

"Ichinose-san…?" Haruka blinked and looked around the place, to her surprise they managed to go all the way to the school rooftop. She didn't even remember climbing up the stairs—

"We need to talk," he whispered, barely looking at her because of the extreme guilt he felt after what he had done a while ago.

Yes, he knew he did not have the right to tell her this after he refused when she wanted to talk to him. But he quickly regretted it as soon as he saw Nanami cry. To say that he was heartbroken was an understatement! When she left, it took all his strength not to run after her. But as you can see, he failed and did so. He wanted to punch himself for being an idiot, as if ignoring her would solve—

Haruka nodded.

Tokiya turned around, blue eyes dilated and eyebrows slightly furrowed. Wait, she's just going to agree with him just like that? After what he did a while ago, she's still willing to talk to him? "Why aren't you angry?"

The rosette blinked. "I _am_."

"No, I mean…" He looked away, hands gripping his hair in frustration. She was fuming a while ago! Heck, he expected that as soon as they stopped walking she would have slapped him or something! But why did she nod like nothing happened?!

"_Mataku_!" He groaned, hands fell silently to his side. "You're not making things easier for me!"

She raised an eyebrow. "So it's _my_ fault now?" she asked.

The bluenet shook his head defensively.

"Why aren't you throwing a tantrum like any other normal girl?"

Haruka stared at him for a few seconds; slowly a smile crept on her lips as she closed her eyes. He couldn't believe how collected she was! He ran all the way to the classroom after he made her cry, but it turned out she was already fine.

"Because I'm not like any other normal girl."

He blinked, unable to comprehend her reply. They stood in the middle of the rooftop in silence, the wind blew softly and the sun was low in the sky, reminding them of the time. The scene they were in was probably romantic…until you consider the situation they were in.

"Why do you still want to talk to me after what I did to you?" Tokiya spoke without thinking, surprising both of them. Haruka opened her eyes and looked at him with a neutral expression. Seeing that he has caught her attention, he decided to continue. "I expected _you_ to avoid _me_ the whole day but to my utter surprise you decided to do the opposite. Why's that?"

Silence once again enveloped the place. He wondered if she was ignoring him, but that seemed unlikely so she probably didn't hear him. Tokiya opened his mouth so he can repeat what he said—

"You promised that we'd get to know each other. I don't want things to end before it even started. I don't want to judge you without even knowing who you really are." Haruka smiled at him gently, a sweet smile that melted his cold interior—the one he knew he didn't deserve. Unknown to her, his hands slowly formed a fist. "And you were acting really weird. Even though I don't know much about you, I believe you're not the type to do such things. After all, you told me you'll wait for me to fall in love with you and it made me think how—"

"That's enough."

Haruka blinked, she suddenly found her face buried to his chest and a pair of arms wrapped around her neck. "Ichinose-san—"She stopped midway when felt something wet slightly dampened her shoulder; she looked up and saw the Ice Prince _crying_.

"It's enough, Nanami-san," Tokiya whispered, his voice quivering slightly, "because if you say anything else, I might fall harder for you than I already am." Haruka felt his embrace tightened. "I don't think that's a good idea."

O~o~o~O~o~o~O

"So…" Tokiya rested his back on the wall while sitting down on the floor, while Haruka was sitting seiza style. Both of them decided to sit down on the floor because they knew that their talk would take a long time to finish. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Um…" Haruka tilted her head to the side, eyes looking up as if thinking. "How about when we were in my apartment? After you attacked me, you said 'that wasn't me'. What did you mean when you said that?"

The blue-haired Ice Prince looked down, biting his lip. "Look, I know I may sound like I'm making an excuse but—"

"To see is to believe," the rosette said. "After seeing you act like that, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me you were possessed or something."

Tokiya chuckled, slightly amused at what she said. Unknown to her, someone inside him was offended. "Possessed, huh?" He smirked. "If we were still living in the medieval times, you can consider me as 'possessed'."

Haruka blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Nanami." He sat up straight, looking up at the sky with a calm expression. "This might be random, but I want you to answer my questions." She nodded; he smiled and proceeded to talk. "In the olden times, because of humanity's lack of knowledge about medicine, a lot of diseases were dismissed as a disease, more considered as a symptom for possession. My question is: do you know some of those diseases?

She stared at him for a few minutes, unsure why he was asking this in the first place. Tokiya smiled at her, "Well? Do you know the answer?"

"Um…let me see." Even if she really didn't know what this was for, Haruka decided to play along. "Schizophrenia, epilepsy, Sydenham's chorea, dissociative identity disorder...sorry, that's all I can think of."

Tokiya shook his head. "No, the smaller the choices the better. Now, my real question is: out of all the diseases you mentioned, which do you think was the closest to my case?"

Without even thinking too much, Haruka answered. "Dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multi-personality disorder."

Tokiya nodded. "Yes, dissociative identity disorder. But let's say that in my case, I only have two identities, which are my real self and my other self. What do you think should be the best name for my problem?"

"Dual personality disorder." She replied.

"Yes," He nodded again. "I have a dual personality disorder."

No one spoke for a while. After a few more minutes, Haruka looked down and started playing with her hands.

"I see."

"That's all you have to say?" Tokiya frowned. "Just an 'I see'? No violent reactions like, 'I don't believe you' or 'you're just making that up'?"

The rosette decided to change her sitting position, twisting her legs to the side while her back rested on the wall. Her legs must have hurt after sitting seiza after a long time. "Well, even if I said those things, nothing will change. I would rather accept that fact rather than think you purposely tried to rape me."

Tokiya looked at her and blinked. "You are unusually calm even after what I told you. When I told my father about this, he panicked and brought me to dozens of doctors just to 'fix' me. And when I told my close friends, they laughed it off at first but when they realized I was serious, they became wary of me for three days."

"How _should_ I react?" Haruka asked.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

The rosette hummed and looked away. He decided to do the same because having this kind of talk with someone always determined when that person truly cared for him to accept him wholeheartedly or leave him in utter disgust. But to his surprise, his girlfriend seemed so neutral about this that _Tokiya_ was the one feeling uncomfortable.

"How long have you been experiencing this?"

"Since I was old enough to think." He answered. Somehow, it seemed like he was undergoing a check-up or something.

Haruka hummed again. "Do you know when he would be the one using your body? Does it have a 'schedule' or something?"

He shook his head. "No, there's no schedule whenever he takes over. But there's a trigger before we can change who's conscious and who's not."

Haruka blinked. "There's a trigger? What is it?"

"I…I'm not really sure," Tokiya sighed, looking down on his hands. "But I realized not too long ago that we would change places when we'd hear a… loud sound."

"A loud sound?" she repeated blankly. "Like hearing a drum beat or a rock band performs?"

He shook his head. "No, not just any loud sound. More of…a sound that's close to danger."

"You're not making any sense."

"A normal person would say I am not making sense since we started this conversation."

Haruka smiled. "I already told you. It's because I'm not like any normal person."

He rolled his eyes. He wanted to correct that a while ago when she said that she wasn't any normal person. But he decided to let it go and continue what he was trying to say. "Hm… Let me try to be specific. You can consider the beeping of a car as a loud sound, but you know the difference when a driver is frantically beeping because he or she was about to bump unto someone or something from a driver beeping just because of the terribly long traffic."

"Oh, I get it now." The rosette nodded. "So apparently Hayato comes out whenever you sense danger."

"Hayato? Who's that?" He paused. "Oh, wait. He's the other me, right? So he has a name…"

"Seriously? He has been living inside you since 'you were old enough to think,'" Haruka used her fingers for emphasis, "but you only realize that he actually has a name just now?"

Tokiya shrugged. "Just because I am aware of his existence doesn't mean I know _everything_ about him. I don't even know what he does with my body whenever he takes control."

Haruka arched an eyebrow. "I have read about this somewhere, but is it safe for me to assume that you don't share your memories with him?"

He nodded. "Whenever he takes over, I experience black-outs. I don't know what he did or said while he was using my body, but judging from the expression of the people around me when I return, it was always bad. I didn't know what happened in the apartment, all I know is that I heard the plates breaking and then I 'fainted.' I'd regained conscious and found myself pinning you down the bed while you look disheveled and had hickies all over your neck—sorry about that—It didn't take me a second to guess he tried to rape you."

The rosette looked at him with a blank expression, slowly consuming all his explanation. "You said that he always does 'bad' things. Does this mean this isn't the first time you, I mean Hayato tried to rape someone? Or maybe worse, what if he _murdered_ someone?"

Tokiya's face suddenly morphed to pure terror, as if this never occurred to him before. He covered his face with his hand, looking away from the rosette's intense gaze. "That…I…_I don't know_! I know he's what most people would consider as a delinquent, but I never thought he would be so evil as to hurt someone!"

"I…I see." Haruka placed her hand under her chin. "Ne, Ichinose-san. Can you…um, summon him out or something? I need to talk to him and ask him some—"

"_Are you insane_?!" Tokiya shouted, standing up abruptly. "After what he did to you, you want to _talk_ to him?!"

The rosette sighed, standing up and patting her skirt to remove any dirt that she might have gotten from sitting on the ground. "That's nice coming from you, Ichinose-san."

Brows furrowed and mouth slightly agape, he turned away slightly offended at what she said. "That's a little rude, Nanami-san."

"Once again, after you threw me out of the SCR. That's nice coming from you, Ichinose-san."

Tokiya gritted his teeth. "You and your petty mouth."

"You love it, anyway," Haruka cooed with a mischievous grin.

He opened his mouth to retort when the door suddenly slammed open, sending the two of them flying to the ground. Behind them, they heard the familiar voice of Shinomiya Natsuki beaming.

"Ah! I knew you'd be here Ichinose-san! Oh, look!" He energetically pointed at the rosette that was still lying on the ground, her behind up in mid-air. "Haru-chan's also here! Yay! I'm hitting two birds with one stone—hey, Ichinose-san! Don't you think that idiom is animal abuse? What about the birds? Poor little—"

"Shinomiya-san," Tokiya said, there was a hint of irritation in his voice. He helped the rosette stood up back on her feet. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the student council room?" Before Haruka could open her mouth, "And yes, Nanami-san. I know it is nice coming from me."

She snickered, barely containing her giggles.

He returned his attention to the tall blond, who was smiling at them. "It seems like you two have…reconciled," he slightly teased.

"Just answer my question," The bluenet said, doing his best to hide the blush on his face. Natsuki blinked before nodding, but anyone could tell that he and Haruka loved to tease the cheeky president.

"Oh, the meeting's already done so we returned back to class. But when I returned, Hyuuga-sensei was fuming and asked me where you were. I told him that you left early and I thought you went to the classroom. He then told me to find you, which leads me here." He paused and pointed at Haruka. "He also ordered me to find Haru-chan, good thing she was with you!"

_Because I'm the reason why she's missing in the first place_, Tokiya thought.

Before the two of them could speak, Natsuki dragged them by the collar and they went back to their classroom. Though dragging them was unneeded because it wasn't like they would run away or something. The blond insisted on doing this because it would 'make them feel as if they did something bad so they should lament over it.' Even though they couldn't understand his logic, they decided to let it go.

"After school," Haruka whispered while they were yanked like a pair of animals. "Let's _'call him out_' at the rooftop."

Before Tokiya could reply, they arrived at their destination. And obviously, once they set a foot on their classroom, they were greeted by a handful of scolding, courtesy of Hyuuga Ryuuya.

* * *

**Sorry for the delayed chapter guys! I lost track of time (literally) and I no longer now what day it is xD Proofread by _xxXMythiaXxx! _Thank you so much for your help, Mythia-san! There were some scenes that became funnier when she edited it xD I actually LAUGHED after reading it, which I thought was weird because I already knew what was coming but... hehe. Again, thank you Mythia-san! Guys, read her story! If you want a good romantic comedy, go read Personality Mood Switch! If you want some serious fanfic, read Uta no Prince-sama: Secret Origins! **

**SO... who watched Kamigami no Asobi? Isn't Hades the cutest living Lord of the Dead ever? So moe~**

**Reviews?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Hello everyone! Are you all doing fine? I'm sorry for not updating too fast. Yeah. Oh, I'm made a reference to my old story in this chapter! Can you point it out? Haha. Sorry if this chapter has a lot of grammatical errors, I didn't manage to send it to Mythia-san because she seemed busy. Didn't want to impose and all. And so, I present you, chapter six!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Uta no Prince-sama.

* * *

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter Six:

His secret

_Mataku! _Ichinose Tokiya didn't know what to do with his girlfriend, Nanami Haruka! He couldn't believe she requested him to 'bring out' that monster that tried to hurt her! What was she thinking, what if it tries to do something to her again? In the first place, is she aware that he doesn't know how to casually bring it out whenever he wants? Why must she—

"Ichinose," A familiar voice called out to him. He turned to his side and saw purple irises looking at with concern. "You're spacing out. I assume it's about Nanami-san?"

Tokiya opened his mouth, but no words came. He looked away, a blush on his face. Hijirikawa Masato chuckled and opted to sit beside the vacant chair where the president was sitting. He placed a mug filled with coffee on Tokiya's side; he took it and muttered a 'thanks'. They were currently at the student council room, along with the other student council members. Even though they have finished sorting things out while Tokiya was busy, he decided to review their ideas before calling it a day. Though it seems _he_ was the one who couldn't get any work done.

"Why do you think it's about her?" The president said while keeping a calm façade, but his best friend knew better.

"Well, I don't know… Maybe since you started dating her you started doing things you don't normally do."

Tokiya blinked. "What do you mean? I'm doing my routine as—"

"You _smile_ at your _paperwork_." Ittoki Otoya, Tokiya's other best friend, sat on the table earning him a disapproving glare from the two bluenets.

"You _laughed _at my puns." Aijima Cecil, the half-Japanese, half-Agnapolian in their group, and also the Social Relations officer, said.

"I even saw you feeding pigeons outside the school with Natsuki." Kurusu Syo added.

All eyes widen at the last statement, they all turned to Tokiya, who in turn looked down with a blush on his face.

"You were _feeding pigeons?!" _Otoya shouted in disbelief, laughing wholeheartedly.

"That is so…" Masato, who was usually the other calm one in the group, was red from trying too hard to stifle his chuckles.

"_Precious." _They all said in unison, before bursting in a fit of hysterical laughter. Tokiya was as red as a tomato, but he tried to remain calm, though his twitching eyebrows failed him as it showed his annoyance and embarrassment. Changing the subject, he called out to Natsuki who was the only one who wasn't laughing in the room. Aside from him, of course.

"Shinomiya-san," Their merry laughter stopped, instead all eyes went to the blond who was playing with his Piyo-chan calculator. "I didn't know you were close with Nanami-san."

_I was pretty sure I was the only male student in school she's ever talked with_. Tokiya's protective side added.

The blond finally looked up from his calculator ('Piyo-piyo~' It tweeted whenever a button was pressed) before beaming at their president.

"I'm not!"

Tokiya choked on particularly nothing, eyes widening in surprise. "But you called her 'Haru-chan'…"

"He does that to every girl she finds cute." Syo explained. The bluenet tensed when he thought one of his friends had fallen for his girlfriend.

"She looked like a spring fairy!" Emerald eyes sparkled as he imagined the rosette in his mind. "So cute~! I wonder what it looks like if she stood next to Syo-kun! Waaaah~! Double the cuteness!"

"See?"

They all nodded. Subsequently, their president relaxed.

"To not get hit even when he calls a girl by her first name even if they aren't close," Cecil looked at the blond in admiration. "As expected from you, Shinomiya-san."

Ren smirked. "Such a lady killer."

"I call it 'feeling close'." Syo rolled his eyes. "And—Oi, Jinguuji! That's nice coming from you of all people!"

Tokiya couldn't help but remember his exchange with Haruka after hearing Syo's statement. A smile crept on his lips, never in his life did he think someone would say something defying to him. He was respected by the people around him, so to be ridiculed by someone rather than his group of his friends, and that 'someone' happened to be his girlfriend, made him feel a little—

"That was the first time I've seen your girl, Ichinose." Syo said, a slight blush on his face. "She's kinda…"

"Cute_?" _Natsuki suggested.

"Yeah…" Syo couldn't believe he was agreeing with his best friend about something. "She's kinda cute…"

Silence.

"Oi!" Otoya shouted abruptly. "Stop where you're going, Syo! There's a minefield over there! Nanami's taken, you know. And by our friend to top that!"

"Oh please," Ren rolled his eyes. "I saw _you_ staring dreamily at the Little Lamb when she went to this room a while ago! I say you got something for her, too, Ikki!"

Otoya turned as red as his hair, raising his arms defensively. "Y-you got it wrong—"

"But I found it weird that I never noticed her before," Syo mused out loud. "Not until today."

"Yes," Cecil nodded in agreement. "I am surprised at myself that I didn't notice her too even with the strong presence of the Muse in her."

They all gave the half-Agnapolian a quizzical look before returning back to their conversation.

"They say that jewelry shines better depending on who's wearing it." Masato suggested, earning him a glare from the other bluenet sitting right beside him.

"I expected more from you, Hijirikawa." Tokiya said through gritted teeth, while the vice-president smiled calmly. He couldn't believe them; they were treating Haruka like some _thing_! A jewelry? Seriously, were they joking him? Is how they treated women? Just some _things _to show off like _jewelry? _Tokiya knew that in their entire group, he's probably the only one who doesn't have that much experience with the ladies. Ren was an absolute womanizer; he begrudgingly thought that maybe the blond idiot influenced Masato in his ways.

"Which reminds me, hey Icchi!" Ren called the bluenet's attention. "When did you start dating her? No, rather, when did you have the time to pursue her? We've been busy since we joined the student council, but I never saw you doing something else that's not concerned with the student council or about your grades or something."

All eyes went to the bluenet, who suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He looked down, sipping on his coffee before placing it back on the table.

"I started dating her four months ago. On the day of the election, I told her if I win then she'll become my girlfriend."

"No," The tanned blond shook his head disapprovingly. "I meant _before _that. Like when did you meet her? Or how did you get her number-"

"There's no '_before that'_." Tokiya answered firmly. "That was the first time we talked, when I asked her out. And to answer your last question, I got her number two months after we started dating."

_Two months after they started dating…?! _They all stared at him in horror. _That took too long, man! Way too long!_

Otoya was the first one to get over his shock, shaking his head. His eyebrows furrowed when he realized something concerning about what Tokiya said. "Wait; let me repeat what you said. You told her that if you won the election… she's going to be your girlfriend?"

Syo immediately caught up where he was going. "You do know that there was _no_ possible way that you could lose."

"Which means…" Aijima whispered.

"_You might as well have forced her to date you_." They all said in unison, Tokiya felt like their words were arrows that shot his heart repeatedly. They all gave him a look of disgust; the bluenet only shook his head in disbelief. And now suddenly, it was as if _he's _the bad guy! This bunch of hypocrites! And to make things worse, Masato clicked his tongue while shaking his head. "I expected more from you, Ichinose."

Why does it seem like he was getting the unfortunate end of the stick since this day started?

"E-excuse me!" A soft voice shouted from behind the student council door, eyes of different colours widen for they all realized who owned it. "P-permission to enter!"

Suddenly, they all sat down on their respective student council member's chair and acted as if they were reviewing the paper works. While the two intruders—Otoya and Syo, respectively—were suddenly serving them coffee and were patting them on their backs, saying 'Don't work too hard, okay!'. Tokiya gritted his teeth, chugging down his coffee.

_Show-offs_…

"You may enter." He shouted, the door slid open revealing the lovely rosette, Nanami Haruka. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but the room was suddenly filled with male pheromones, trying to attract his woman. But unknown to them, it doesn't work. The president tried it himself.

"Ichinose-san—"Haruka couldn't even finish her sentence when she was slaughtered by a bear hug from Natsuki.

"Haru-chan~!" The blond greeted cheerfully. Behind him, someone was emitting a menacing aura. Even with his dense head, he got the cue and removed his arms around the petite girl. The girl coughed nervously before continuing her sentence.

"Ichinose-san, I just wanted to check if you're done…"

Haruka trailed off, seeing that all of them were starting to glare at the president. She didn't know if it was her imagination, but they were sending this air that seemed to say, '_You just made a lady wait, you bastard'. _Tokiya sweat dropped but ignored them.

"We're almost done. Can you wait a little-" No one failed to notice the sadness in Haruka's eyes, Tokiya felt someone kick his shin from under the table. "No, we're actually done. Be right there in a second."

"Oh, okay then." Haruka smiled before nodding at him. "I'll be waiting outside till you get ready—"

"_Nah-ah_, Little Lamb!" She didn't know how, but Ren suddenly teleported in front of her. It seemed like the others were also taken aback at his new-found ninja skills. "We wouldn't be considered as the gentlemen of Saotome Academy if we made you wait outside. Come join us."

_Since when were we considered…?_ All of them stared at the blond as he led the rosette to the chair he was supposed to be sitting on. Otoya quickly gave her a mug of coffee, which she gratefully accepted. Good thing they have extra mugs in the student council room.

"Drinking coffee in the middle of the afternoon…" Haruka said before she sipped on her mug. "This is a nice experience."

The boys laughed awkwardly before turning away. None of them thought it was weird until the rosette pointed it out. It was common for them to drink coffee at this time of the day since they became the new student council members.

"Since we have a fellow student visiting us here today," Masato stood up and headed towards Haruka; she immediately tensed and wondered if he was going to do something to her. "How about we ask her for suggestions concerning the upcoming Cultural Festival?"

Everyone blinked.

"EEEEEH?!"

.

.

.

"So here are the suggestions from the members of the council! And well… the other two who just wanted to hang-out here." Masato presented a whiteboard out of nowhere, Haruka wondered if he came prepared with all of this.

"First suggestion is from me!" Natsuki stood right next to the whiteboard with a marker in hand; he turned around and started scribbling. The rosette had to squint her eyes just to understand his childish writing; he wrote it in cursive English so it took a moment for her to read it.

"Pla…ne…ta…rium?" Haruka read out-loud, but a bit unsure.

"_Sou_!" He clapped his hands energetically. "I suggest we have a mini-planetarium inside one of the classroom and have the Astrology club help us with the equipment. The purpose of this is to educate our fellow students about the beauty of galaxy. And horoscope reading, too, of course."

"Though I've said it before in our previous meeting," Syo muttered, scratching his head. "Natsuki had a decent idea. I actually expected him to suggest something stupid like a treasure hunt or something."

"Next is me!" Otoya grinned, taking the marker from the blond and writing something under Natsuki's idea. The blond returned to his seat. "Arcades! Preferable with crane games and Dance and Sing: Ultimate Fighting! I suggested this well, because it's fun! And we can earn a lot of funds for the council."

"But it also cost a lot of money…" Masato noted. "Next!"

"Uh… I really don't know why, but I feel like someone's nudging me to write this so…" Syo took the marker and wrote something on the board. Haruka's eyebrows furrowed when she saw the small writing on the board. "Uh… playground… for the kids, in case some people decided to bring their kids or their younger siblings. They could… uh… leave them there. But of course, we'll have someone to supervise the children so that no one would try to walk on their own."

"That really was an unexpected but great suggestion from Syo." Cecil whispered.

Ren nodded. "I thought he never liked kids."

"SHUT UP!" The short blond fumed, walking away and sitting on the sofa. Masato stood up and headed to the whiteboard, the rosette nodded that he has a very fine and delicate writing. Though, she was taken aback at what it said.

"_Firework_s?!"

"We know!" All of them except Masato exclaimed in agreement. "It cost too much money!"

Ren was next and he wrote on the board. Haruka slowly read his writing and sighed in relief, only for it to be caught in her throat and she choked when he _finished _writing. After catching her breath, she shouted in disbelief.

"A café… that serves Italian food cooked by five-star restaurant chefs?!"

The tall blond smirked, rolling the marker around his fingers. "I'm classy."

"You're spoiled." Tokiya retorted.

Then it was Cecil's turn. This made Haruka tilt her head in confusion. "What is a… '_shawarma_'?"

"And that was our reaction when we first saw his suggestion." The vice-president shook his head, rubbing his temples.

"It's an Arabian dish!" Cecil pouted adorably. "It tastes really good!"

The last one was Tokiya. The rosette blushed as she read his neat writing on the board. The guys snickered when they saw her reaction.

"The things love can do to a person." Otoya giggled, earning him a marker getting thrown to his head.

"A couple store." Tokiya read calmly, ignoring the red-hair's earlier remark. "This a shop where students and visitors can buy things like a couple shirt or a couple scarf as a souvenir when they visit Saotome Academy's cultural festival."

Now that they have all presented their ideas to their guest, it was Haruka's turn to say her idea. They waited patiently for her answer, if she's going agree to their idea or she's going to suggest her own. But to their surprise, she said something clearly irrelevant to their topic.

"Your suggestions show much of your personalities. And I could tell that all of you have bright sparkling personalities, just like a star."

All of them deadpanned.

"Even if you all have different personalities, you managed to get along fairly well. When all of you joined forces, I'm sure you can be the brightest star of them all. You can form a constellation." _Note to everyone in the room_, they all thought. _She's insane as her boyfriend!_ "I finally understood why your group is named 'STARISH'."

Completely forgetting about her ridiculous and not to mention random statement, Tokiya raised an eyebrow. "STARISH…? Since when did our group became known as 'STARISH'?"

The rosette blinked. "Is it not?"

He shook his head. "No, we never named our group anything. Where did you get that?"

"But the girls all over the school call you STARISH…" All of them abruptly stood up, shock evident on their faces.

"'STARISH', huh?" Otoya repeated the name, looking down on the floor.

"That is…" Natsuki whispered.

"…Probably…" Ren continued.

"…The cheesiest…" Syo scratched his head angrily.

"...Name…" Cecil sighed.

"…I've ever…" Masato shook his head.

"…Heard." Tokiya finished before they all released a groan.

Haruka laughed wearily, telling them it's a fine name. She thought it was weird, why they would name their group something so… girly. If they were an all-girls group, sure it would've passed. But a group full of handsome men with the name 'STARISH' was just… _weird._ It seemed like they didn't know it themselves that they have been baptized with such name in the first place.

"Really?" Otoya looked at her with puppy eyes. "You think it's a fine name?"

The rosette nodded fiercely. "_Yes_! Though it might seem odd, at first. But it's a unique name! And—oh! I realized something. It can also stand for you names! S for Shinomiya, T for Tokiya, A for Aijima… and so on!"

They all nodded in agreement. Wow, even if it sounded really idiotic it's actually quite a great name. And with that, they all sat down with a smile on their faces.

"So it's been decided." The president said in a clear voice. "Starting from this day on, we have officially acknowledged the name of our group as 'STARISH'." They even clapped just for the effects. What followed that was a moment of silence.

"… Though you gotta admit that's a weird name." Ren sighed.

"Yeah." Syo nodded.

"Definitely." Tokiya, even if he was the one who decided to name their group STARISH, couldn't help but agree.

"We sound like a teenage idol group of something…" Masato drunk his coffee and almost choked at it when Cecil shouted. "That's it!"

"What's 'it'?" The president asked, patting the other bluenet on the back to help him a little.

"Because you kept teasing me with my shawarma, I'm going to suggest something else!" They nodded, telling him to continue. "Let's perform on the cultural festival!"

They all stared at Cecil, before bursting in a fit of laughter. Haruka didn't understand what's so funny about it; she thought it was a good idea.

"Oh yeah," Ren spoke while laughing. "Remember when—ahaha—Icchi had his—haha—switched flip—and he—haha—became Hayato—ahaha—and he started dancing and singing—HAHAAHAHA! Imagine—hahaha—_us_ doing that!"

"_OHAYAHHO_!" Otoya and Syo imitated the dance, before they starting rolling on the floor. "We can even—hahaha—feed pigeons—haha—while we're at it—HAHAHA!" The bluenet stopped laughing moments ago when they mentioned a familiar name.

"Wait." The sharpness in his voice made all sound and movement in the room ceased completely. "You _knew _about Hayato?"

They looked at one another before nodding. "Well yeah," Syo answered. "Didn't you _tell _us?"

"No!" Tokiya shouted angrily. "I didn't tell you his _name_!"

They blinked, before a soft 'oh' escaped from their lips. "The first time you switched 'he' already introduced himself as 'Hayato'. At first we thought you were just joking, but when _you_ said yourself we realized you're serious."

"And no one told me about this?"

"We thought you _knew_!" Masato frowned.

"I _didn't_!" Tokiya growled. "The only reason why I found out that the other me actually _has_ a name was because Nanami-san told me!"

Haruka, who was oblivious to the mood, decided to bring up her on purpose why she went here.

"Oh, Ichinose-san. Didn't I tell you that we're going to—"

"No." The bluenet said, calmer than before. He wouldn't want to lash out on her when they just made up. "I'm not going to bring him out just so you can talk to him—"

Out of nowhere, he saw a mug heading straight to his face. With his speed, he quickly dodged it. Before he can even say a 'what the fuck', he heard the sound of glass breaking and he blacked out.

.

.

"Whoa there, Little Lamb!" Ren was the first one to get his composure back after seeing what just happened. "You didn't need to be so aggressive!"

Haruka panted, it took all her strength to throw that mug on his face. She knew that Tokiya still wasn't willing to let her talk to Hayato so she planned before going here beforehand. Good thing Otoya offered her coffee, everything became easier by then. But first, she wanted to clear things up.

"Ittoki-san," She called softly.

The red-haired straightened up, "H-Hai?"

"Please put milk and creamer on my coffee. I don't like it black, you see."

The poor red-head nodded fiercely, the others stared at her in disbelief. "And add some sugar. Lots of it." _Note to everyone in the room_, they gulped nervously. _She's even more insane than her boyfriend!_

"What the fuck…" Hayato continued for Tokiya. Everyone turned to the bluenet who was busy staring at broken pieces of the mug behind him. "It is me or you just threw a mug at Tokiya, nya?"

But Haruka didn't need him to be willing. She can just force him out by herself. "Hayato-san, let's talk at the rooftop."

Surprisingly, he only grinned and did what he was told.

.

.

"_Ne, ne,_ Haruka-chan!" Hayato called playfully. "Why are ya keeping such distance from? Afraid of I might rape ya again?"

Haruka's eyes narrowed. She was currently standing two meters away from him, but no one can blame her why.

"Doncha worry," He grinned, it irked her how _unnatural_ it seemed on Tokiya's face. "I like my women with big tits. I won't bother ya ever again."

The rosette blushed, from anger or from embarrassment, you decide. "Even if you tried, I brought something to protect myself." From her pocket she brought out a pair of long sharp scissors. Blue eyes widen in amusement.

"Yer going to stab me? What would ya do if I died?"

"Don't worry," She answered coolly. "You won't die so easy." He raised an eyebrow, as if saying 'why are you so sure', and so she continued. "Because my father said that bad weeds are hard to kill."

Hayato laughed maniacally, before stopping abruptly. "Yer insane."

"That's nice coming from you."

He smirked, advancing a step forward closer to her. Her grip on the scissor tightened. "Ya have a smart mouth. I like ya, nyaa." Another step forward.

"I afraid your feelings are not reciprocated."

His eyes twitched, Haruka didn't even saw him dashed towards her, she just found herself standing face to face with him, scissors pressed dangerously on her throat.

"Yer a bitch."

"You're a bastard."

She felt the cold metal returned back on her hand, the bluenet took a step back, moving away from her on his own accord. She let go of the breath she unconsciously held.

"_Saa_," Hayato was now sitting on the same area where Tokiya sat a while ago, in front the door to the roof top. Haruka followed him but decided not to sit next to him; instead she stood in front of the bluenet with an unusual calm look on her face. "It's time to get down to business, _nyaro_!"

Haruka nodded; surprised that he knew that she only wanted to talk.

"_What _are you, Hayato?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious? I'm Tokiya's split personality. Just—"

"No," She shook her head, not happy with his answer. "That's not it. There's _more _to it."

"Oh?"Hayato feigned disbelief; this girl was smarter than she looked. "Care to explain why and _what _do _ya _think am I supposed to be, nyaa?"

"I'm not sure about this but," She looked down, biting her lips. Slowly she looked up and showed a face of complete determination. "Judging from what Ichinose-san said, you only appear when he hears 'danger'. So I assume that you're he's protector—"

Hayato laughed hysterically, he didn't wait for her to finish his sentence. In mid-cackle, he stopped. She was taken aback at how quick he can restore his composure. As expected from someone with mental instability.

"_Baka janai ka? Omae?" _Even though his words were insulting, his tone was completely serious it made Haruka feel more annoyed. "Ya must be as crazy as I am to think I'm _protecting _that kid, naiiaaa!"

"Then what are you?" She challenged. "Tell me what you are."

He smirked, slowly standing up. Only did Haruka realize that he was a few inches taller than her, if not a foot. But she tried her best to not be intimidated, or at least not show it.

"I'm everything that Tokiya despises!" He said, laughing again in a creepy manner

"W-what do you mean?" She could only whisper.

"Haven't you realized, nya?" Hayato asked before he started walking forward, arms wide open as if he was waiting for a hug from an imaginary person. "He's got the looks, the brains, athletic, and even that cool mysterious personality ya chicks dig! Isn't he _perfect_?"

Haruka nodded, but didn't know where this was going. Yes, Tokiya was famous at school for all his talents and his brains. They even called him inhuman because he was so close to perfection. They even called him 'Mister Perfect' just to make fun of him. But it was the truth. He _was _perfect.

"But don't ya know the saying, '_no one's perfect_', nya?"

Golden eyes widen, realization struck her. He turned around and smirked.

"I like da look on yer face, nya. It seemed like you finally caught up with me."

"B-but how—"Haruka shook her head in disbelief.

"Does it matter?" He scoffed. "What's important is that I'm standing here in front of ya, nya. Through sheer stress, he managed to create two personalities in one body. His 'perfect' personality, which is him, and the epitome of everything he never wanted to be, which is _me_!"

"Stress?" She repeated. "He was stressed—"

"By his father to be perfect!" Hayato smiled bitterly, even if he hated the other personality sharing his body, he couldn't but pity him. "He was an only child and an heir to a well-known company here in Japan. He was forced by his father to act like an adult at the young age of 7; he was not allowed to be childish nor allowed to throw a tantrum. When he showed signs of humanity, his father would get angry and would beat him up!"

"But that's…!" Haruka covered her lips, tears welled in her eyes.

"I don't need yer tears, nyaa." He clicked his tongue, looking away. "And before I knew it, I had a mind of my own. All his imperfections—impatience, cruelty, hot-headedness, stupidity—name every single fucking one of them! It's standing right in front of you!"

He walked and stopped right in front of her; he cupped up her cheeks and forced her to look at him. He leaned down, enough for Haruka to feel his breath.

"Now, Ha-ru-ka-chan!" He said the syllables of her name as if he couldn't get enough of it. "It wouldn't be good if you're the only one asking. Let me ask _you _a question, nyaa." The rosette didn't reply, he took it as a signal to continue. "Why are you doing this? Why did you want to know about me, nyaa? Will it even _change _anything if you did?"

There was silence. Hayato thought she didn't have any plans on answering, he decided he should just crush her jaw like what he did to her back in her apart—

"I want to help Ichinose-san."

He blinked. "What did you just say?"

"I want to help Ichinose-san." Haruka said firmly, looking at his eyes with an intense gaze. The bluenet gritted his teeth and let go her, taking a step back. But she only followed him. "But after hearing what you said, I only want to help him even more!"

"Don't tell me, nyaa." He rolled his eyes. "It's because ya want him to remain the ever so 'perfect' and 'pure' Tokiya-sama ya fan girls depicted him to be. Or wait, ya _want _me to merge with him because it makes ya so uncomfortable that yer boyfriend is so it makes _you _feel so worthless—"

"That's not it." She answered weakly, but the sincerity in her voice was enough to shut him up. "At first, it was just genuine concern. I was afraid that you might start hurting people other than me and Tokiya would get the blame for it. But after hearing what you said, I came to the realization that I don't need a perfect boyfriend if it means stripping off his humanity. I can accept him no matter what he will turn into, no matter what mistakes he did in the past and what mistakes he will do in the future. So please," Haruka pulled him, his face was now just a mere inch away. "Hayato, don't bare the pain all to yourself."

And she leaned forward.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Hello. Did you enjoy it? Was it humorous? I gave it my all xD Did any notice I've been teasing Tokiya since chapter 8 of DWHW? Haha. Oh, I also realized that I enjoy writing STARISH together. It's amusing how their personalities conflicted with each other and hilarity always ensues. Lol. So this might be the end of Futari no Himitsu. It's already May and I'm afraid that by June I'm forced to go study-mode again because class resumes. And also... the lack of reviews. I know I sound like an attention whore but it's not really fun to update when it feels like no one is waiting for me to. Like... there's no point. But that depends if you guys want me to continue.

Reviews?


	7. Chapter 7

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter Seven:

Who Said This Was The End, Nya?

But rather than feel his lips, Nanami Haruka felt a hand at her face. She blinked, before the bluenet freaking _Ignite Passed_ her face and she fell a few steps backwards.

"W-Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing, _nya_?" Ichinose Hayato covered his face with his left arm. His face was unusually red… _How cute_.

The rosette rubbed her slightly red face. "I was trying to kiss you—"

"I know, _nya_!" he shouted, his face became a darker shade of red. Haruka wondered if he was capable of showing her fifty shades of red. "What I meant was, why were you _trying_ to kiss me?!"

There was a moment of silence, and it wasn't the comfortable kind.

"I just thought the moment called for it…?"

Hayato scoffed. "What? So you thought if you kissed me, everything would be back to normal and I'll be one with Tokiya, _nya_? You're trying to be a prince breaking the witch's curse through true love's kiss or something cliché like that?"

Another moment of awkward silence. After a few minutes, Haruka nodded.

"But…" The rosette looked down, eyebrows slightly furrowed. "In our case, I'm the one trying to break the curse. But I'm a girl, so wouldn't it be more suitable if you used 'princess' rather than—"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT _NYA_!"

Hayato buried his face on his hands, shaking his head in annoyance. This girl…! She was probably the weirdest girl he had ever met. He really had no idea why Tokiya fell in love with her…there was no word that could describe this walking abomination named Nanami Haruka aside from the adjectives 'insane' and 'weird'.

"So it didn't work huh…?"

He turned and saw Nanami looking at the ground, a sad look on her face. Hayato was taken aback at this. Even if he had no feeling for the girl aside from annoyance, he couldn't help but feel bad that she was making such a bleak expression.

"W-Well, sorry I didn't disappear, _nya_!" He forced a sarcastic tone, looking away while his arms were crossed. "I guess you have to deal with me until—"

Hayato stopped mid-sentence when he felt a pair of small hands grab his polo shirt. His blue eyes widened, as he looked down to meet her pleading eyes. Once again, he felt the air got knocked out of his chest.

"Tell me, Hayato-san!" The grip on her shirt tightened. "Was my sincerity not enough? Or did I say something wrong? Please, Hayato-san! Answer me—"

"I knew you were sincere." Haruka finally let go of him. "Even if Tokiya's not here, I knew your words reached him. But sadly, it was not enough for him to accept me."

Her golden eyes darkened, hands balled into a loose fist. "That's…"

"But don't worry…" Hayato hesitated at first, but he raised his hand and patted her head. Her moist eyes stared at him in slight surprise. It felt like she was seeing through his soul. "Because of your words… He will come in terms with himself. I think it helps to know that someone can accept him even if he makes mistakes. But for now, Haruka, give him time to accept me. After all, I'm his imperfections, _nya_."

"And when he does," Haruka whispered, her tone hopeful, "will he…?"

"Become normal?" Hayato smiled sadly. "I will disappear and he will become a normal teenager. Even though I don't know when that will happen, if you're there with him, I know that someday, he will come to accept me."

The rosette nodded. "I will wait for it then. No matter how long, I will stay by his side and assure you that you will be accepted."

"…Arigato," was all he could say. He was about to remove his hand when Haruka grabbed it. Blue eyes widened, he blinked and stared at the petite girl that was smiling gently at him. It made his heart beat faster for some reason. This was the first time someone gave him such a look. Ever since he was 'born,' all he received were scorns and disgust. So she really wasn't lying when she said that she was willing to accept him. Hayato had the qualities of 'doubtfulness,' so he couldn't help but think she was just trying to get rid of him. But it seemed she was telling the truth. _And only the truth_.

"You're actually a nice guy, Hayato-san."

Hayato blushed with alarming eyes. He forcefully looked away. "_B-B-Bakka_!" Haruka giggled, thinking it was cute to see the once sexual harasser turn into a _tsundere_.

"I really thought you were just pure evil," she said softly but honestly. The bluenet couldn't help but peer at the calm expression on her face. "But unexpectedly, you can say kind and encouraging words when you think the situation needs it. That caught me off guard, but my father did tell me, 'no man can be pure evil'."

"_A-Atarimaeda, nya_!" He stammered, pouting a little, slightly hurt that Haruka thought so low of him. Slowly his expression darkened, eyes looking down on the floor. "It's not really fun to think that the only reason I exist is because Tokiya _doesn't_ want me to_."_

"Hayato-kun…" Haruka whispered, blue eyes widened a little. He did not expect her to hear what he said. She smiled sadly, the pain in his chest slowly faded. "It turns out you're just a lonely person deep inside." Pinked tainted his cheeks, he opened his mouth and wanted to shout 'don't act like you understand me' when Haruka continued. "Like any normal person living in this world."

Hayato frowned. Now that he thinks of it, what was her life _before _Tokiya joined in? She didn't have any presence which was weird for such a—_Fine, _he gotta admit, _nyaa—_cute girl. He also found out while he was snooping around while Tokiya was unconscious that Haruka had only _one _friend. Well of course, excluding Tokiya and… _sheesh, _him. And her one and _only _friend was in another section. She must have felt really lonely… Hayato felt that they had something in common aside from being weirdos.

Trying to lighten up the mood, he slapped her on the back, nearly knocking out the air in her windpipe. Haruka coughed, after regaining her composure, she glared at him.

"What was that for?"

He grinned.

"Nothing."

Haruka narrowed her eyes. "There's always a reason for everything, Hayato-kun."

"_Hm…_" He did the 'thinking pose'; she thought he looked like an idiot. "Because I'm evil?"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"The _world _doesn't make any sense."

A moment of silence.

"… Were you trying to be _poetic_?"

"_U-urusai! Damare!" _Hayato shouted, trying to regain the 'creeper' tone he used on her a while ago. But because of the blush on his face, as well his quivering voice, it was far from creepy and more of '_tsun tsun_'.

"I didn't know 'evil'—" Haruka made the quotation sign with her hands, emphasizing the word."—people liked to be poetic…"

"Yes, there are a lot of evil people like myself that has a poetic side!" He crossed his arms, fuming. "A lot of them were famous!"

"State a few."

...

"Oh, _just shut up_ Haruka!"

But unknown to them, it was the truth. Hayato was pure evil, nothing more and nothing less. Let me emphasize it, though. _Was_, past tense_. _This changed after hearing Haruka's words, it somehow encouraged Tokiya. Even though it was only a bit, this was a big step.

Tokiya's qualities called, 'kindness' and 'sincerity' was shared with his imperfect side, Hayato. Slowly, the two personalities would share all their qualities to each other until one day, they will become one. Though when that, 'one day' will be, fate would be bound to answer. But for now, let's watch Nanami Haruka and Ichinose Tokiya/Hayato's little misadventure as they learn small but interesting things about each other. Also, let's find out the reason how Tokiya got interested with the rosette, and if Haruka will ever fall in love with her boyfriend that had a dual personality.

_So until then…_

"Who said this was the end, _nya_?" Hayato shouted, crossing his arms.

"Hayato-san, who are you talking to?" Haruka blinked, searching around the rooftop for any other person aside from them.

"None of your concern, _nya_," he said, narrowing his eyes at the rosette's nosiness.

"Oh, by the way," the rosette remembered something from their conversation in the SCR, "what was that dance they were talking about back then?"

Hayato blinked. "Dance? What dance?"

"The one with the '_OHAYAHHO_'?" The rosette started doing the dance, looking like a complete idiot. The bluenet's eyebrows only furrowed at her.

"…What the hell are you doing?"

Haruka stopped and stared blankly up at him.

"Don't tell me…Ichinose-san did that…"

It was about time that the two rolled on the floor in a fit of laughter. We can all assume that Tokiya's pride was cracked in two.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Hello guys, I'm going to continue the story after all. I didn't know people supported this story that much... I slightly teared up when my inbox was filled with you reviews. With that, thank you so much. Thank you to xxXMythiaXxxx-san for proofreading this! You are the best! To the readers who also read my other story, Date with Haruka Week, I have posted an extra chapter. Proofread by xXMythiaXxxx again, I'm sorry if I'm overworking you xD. Hope you'll read it!

Edited: I just want to add this, Kamigami no Asobi episode 7: I can't believe you just ruined my Loki-kun. Damn you, fail anime adaption. I knew the game was all BL-ly and stuff (they did that in UtaPri Debut, too) but come on, it wasn't THAT bad. The anime was just... I think I'm not gonna watch it anymore -_- And to think I was planning to write a fanfic for it, too. Sorry for my rants, I just can't get over with my feels xD


	8. Chapter 8

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter Eight:

Breaking Walls and Cross-Overs

Nanami Haruka covered her mouth as she yawned. It was seven in the morning, even if she still felt sleepy; she forced herself to walk to school. It was already Wednesday today, which meant today were their exams. Aside from that, this day can be considered as a normal.

Last Monday, though reluctantly, Hayato apologized to her, which she willingly accepted. No matter what a scary experience it was, she got to admit that it brought them closer to each other. Because of it, she also found out about Tokiya's number one secret.

He has a dual-personality.

But even if the bluenet wasn't as perfect as he seemed, she was still ready to accept him.

'… _I don't need a perfect boyfriend if it means stripping off his humanity. I can accept him no matter what he will turn into, no matter what mistakes he did in the past and what mistakes he will do in the future…'_

Was what she said.

Haruka couldn't help but blush upon remembering her dramatic speech. Her words seemed like it came from a movie or something, it was somehow embarrassing. But no matter how awkward it was for her, it was the reason why Tokiya finally accepted his other half.

Well, not yet. But Hayato assured her that because of her, he will soon fully accept him and he will live a normal life.

Speaking of Tokiya…

"Ohayou," He smiled. "Nanami-san."

The rosette blinked, it seemed she already arrive in front of the school gate. She walked faster, only to stop in front of Ichinose Tokiya.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," Haruka bowed politely. "How was your morning, Ichinose-san?"

"It was—"Before he could finish his sentence, Haruka grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down.

"As if." She hissed, "You can't fool me, Hayato-kun. I can identify Ichinose-san from you just like day and night."

He sweat dropped. "Who are you, Fujioka Haruhi?"

"What?"

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. Haruka sighed, removing her hands from his clothes. Hayato exhaled, happy that he could finally breathe.

"Why are you here?" Haruka asked, though in a much calmer voice. "We have exams today; I don't think it's a good idea to let you answer Ichinose-san's test paper."

"Why are ye fearful," He answered, raising his hands in the air. "O ye of little faith?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Quoting the bible won't change anything, Hayato-kun."

"Could you shut up for a moment?" He snarled, Haruka totally forgot that even if he's a slightly changed man, he still has more of his bad personality than good. "I'm still talking, wait for your turn."

She sighed, eyeing him with disinterest as he took his bag and fished out something from its pocket. She blinked, staring at the long object he presented in front of her face.

"Is that…?" She asked.

"It is!" He beamed. "It's a special rolling-dice pencil, good for exams with multiple choices!"

Haruka deadpanned.

"And what if the test doesn't have multiple choices?" She raised an eyebrow; Hayato's face became a blank before he burst out laughing.

"I'll just write whatever comes into my mind!" The rosette grabbed the nearest flower pot. "I'M JUST JOKING, OKAY?!" She placed the pot down, crossing her arms. "Sheesh, you're too violent for your size!" She bended, preparing to take the object. "Calm the heck down, woman!" He shook his head, rubbing his temples. "Don't worry, I reviewed!"

Haruka stared.

"I'm not joking." He assured, ignoring the look of disbelief written all over her face. "I know that I'm going to disappear soon, so I might as well be useful Tokiya even if it was just a little."

"But didn't you say you had the quality 'stupidity' in you…" She whispered, furrowing her eyebrows.

"'Stupidity' and 'illiteracy' are two different things, Haruka. You, of all people, should know that." Hayato patted her on the head before he entered the gate. "We should chat later; we're going to be late for our test." And with that he went ahead.

Haruka stood dumbfounded in front of the gate, shock at what she heard. She won't deny this; she was _impressed_ with his answer.

Before she realized, it was already Saturday. Exams ended today. Around her, her classmates were rejoicing that the torture was over. Haruka thought it was just fine. Out-of-nowhere, Hayato teleported in front of her and was sitting on the vacant seat there.

"How was—"

"Please, Hayato-kun. Stop with the formalities." She answered dryly. "I know you don't really care and you're just waiting for me to say 'how about you' so you can say yours."

Hayato glared. "The answers were flowing out from my hands, thank you for asking."

Haruka chuckled, finding it amusing how easy to guess he was. She thought he was just there to boost how easy the test was for him when he proved her wrong.

"Watch my basketball game later on."

She blinked.

"What?"

"I said," Hayato scratched his head, clearly irritated that he had to repeat himself. "Watch my—"

"No, what I meant was," Haruka shook her head. "_Why_?"

Blue eyes furrowed. "Isn't that what girlfriends to their athlete boyfriends?"

She blushed.

"You are not my boyfriend!" She shouted, good thing most of the people in class already left. She turned a deeper shade of red before lowering her head, her voice turned into a whisper. "It doesn't mean you share the same body with him you could also share me, too!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Fine, then do it as a friend."

She blinked.

"What's with that look?" He scoffed, "It's annoying."

"So you think of me as a friend?" Golden eyes widened, a smile crept on her lips. Hayato blushed, looking away.

"Of course you are." He said through pouted lips. "I mean, if you're not, then what are you?"

Haruka chuckled.

"No… I was just surprised, that's all." Her smile disappeared when she realized something. "Wait, Ichinose-san's good at athletics. Doesn't it mean… you're terrible at it?"

He grinned.

"I'll show you a sight you've never seen before!"

A sight so horrible that no one has ever seen and no one would wish to see, Haruka thought, horrified.

.

.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T PLAY?!" Hayato shouted, stomping his feet.

"Because you're not part of the Kuroko no Basuke cast." S(T)AR(I)SH replied.

"K-Kuroko no… what?" Eyes furrowed. "What are you guys talking about?"

They were currently at the academy gym. Haruka wondered if they were having a match from a different school, but it seemed like it was a game only for STARISH. They were going to have a 3-on-3 match, meaning one should be left behind.

"And what's with this team?" He grumbled, crossing his arms. "Cecil, Natsuki and Syo. Wait a minute, _Syo?! _He's the shortest one in the group and yet why is he playing instead of me?!"

"Believe it or not," Aijima Cecil said. "Syo was part of the cast!"

"Eh?!" The members who could understand what was going on shouted. "Who was he?"

"Remember back in season one, they had a practice match with otou-san? The giant foreigner?" They all nodded, telling him to continue. "He was that team's captain!"

"EH?!" They shouted once again, "MAJI DE?!"

The half-Japanese nodded. "Yup! Though he only had a few lines…"

"Hey!" Syo crossed his arms, a nerve on his head. "At least I'm part of the cast! Not like those two over there!" He pointed at Hayato and Otoya. "Oh and by the way, Hayato! You suck!"

"W-what?" He sweat dropped.

"Why did you quote the line from that swimming anime when you're about to play at a basketball game?"

"S-swimming anime?" He repeated. "No guys, seriously, what are you-"

_-Kasunda mirai wo Kirisaku yo ni terasu hikari-_

"—Oi, choto matte!" Hayato shouted, flailing his arms to catch their attention. "I'm still talking over here! Why did you play the song—"He paused, noticing a certain someone beside him. "Why the hell is Kurosaki Ranmaru-here?"

"Because he's part of the cast." Ren answered, placing his arm around Ranmaru's shoulders. "Hey, Kurosaki. Did you know OnoD is in this anime too, too bad he's part of HEAVENS though…"

"OnoD?!" The poor bluenet was purely clueless. "Wait; don't tell me Kurosaki-senpai will be you're third member?"

"Yes." Ren and Masato nodded. "Though it would've been better if Kira's here… 'Cause you know he's voiced by Ono Daisuke and we all know who he's voicing in _that _anime!"

"The number one shooter of the Generation of Miracles!" They answered.

"Sou!" Ren smirked. "Our team would be _unstoppable_ if our members are consists of the Generation of Miracles!"

"Got a problem with me?" Ranmaru growled.

"Of course not, senpai." Masato answered. "Your hawk eye will be very useful in our match."

"Generation of Miracles… Hawk eye…" Hayato looked like he was going insane. "Wait a minute, who the hell is Ono Daisuke in the first place?!

"He's my senpai in Mausu Promotion, our talent agency." Haruka joined. "I call him 'OD'."

"Miyuki?" He stared at the rosette in disbelief. "You, too?!" He blinked. "…What did I just call you?"

He stopped when he felt someone pat him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Ittoki biting his lips bitterly, surprisingly he was wearing a pair of _glasses_.

"Don't worry, Mamo." He said. "Let's just hope we'll be part of season three!"

"'Mamo'—" He blinked. "What—"

"Saaa!" Ren shouted, catching all their attention. "The only one who can beat me is me!"

"WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE SAYING?!"

.

.

Eyes opened, gasping as he woke up from his rather peculiar dream. Or should he say nightmare. He placed his hand on his face, wiping off his sweat.

'_What was that dream?_ 'He rose up from bed; before he looked at his alarm clock. '_Why was I dreaming of Hayato when I'm clearly Tokiya… This has not happened before."_

'August 15th', it said. '12:30 PM.'

He blinked blankly. August fifteen? He was it possible that it was August 15 when ended months ago… Wait a minute, what? Twelve thirty?! He's late for class—

"Eh?" Tokiya blinked. He found himself in the middle of the playground, sitting on the slide. Beside him was Haruka, a black cat was sitting on her lap.

"I kind of hate summer…" She muttered, trail of sweat fell of her face as she patted the dark creature.

Suddenly, the cat jumped from her lap and ran away. Golden eyes widened and she went down from the slide, following it. Tokiya told her to let it go, but she still pursued it. He sighed and decided to watch her, walking down from the slide.

The cat crossed the street, and so did she. Unknown to her, the stoplight already went red. Tokiya opened his mouth, but it was all too late. A truck came, hitting her small form and she screamed. Blood splattered everywhere; some even went to his pale cheek. The metallic scent of blood combined with the dusty road choked him. He turned his head, only to see the black cat on the other side of the road, licking his paw. Slowly, he placed his paw down and looked at Tokiya.

"Serves you right."

.

.

"HARUKA!" Tokiya screamed, sending the covers of his bed flying. He breathed heavily, turning to his alarm clock. He grabbed it with worried eyes and stared at the numbers. It wasn't August 15 today; it was also 6:30 in the morning.

He went out of bed and took his uniform and underwear from his closet. He went inside the bathroom and had a quick shower before he wore his clothes. He took his bag from the table and went outside of the house. He did not bother call the driver, he ran his way straight to Haruka's house.

Just in time as he stood in front of Haruka's apartment, the door opened. Golden eyes opened, surprised to see the bluenet at her doorsteps.

"Ichi—"Before she could finish what she was going to say, Tokiya trapped her in an embrace.

"Please don't die on me." He whispered, tightening his arms around her. "Even in my dreams. Please don't."

Unsure what to do and what was going on, Haruka looked up to see the look of anguish on his face. She raised her right hand and cupped his face. Blue eyes widened, he looked down to meet her eyes, only to see her smiling gently at him.

"… Okay."

* * *

**Author's note:** Sorry for this filler chapter, I was busy with DWHW and I'm worried that people would think I'm abandoning this. I'm not okay, I was only prioritizing my other fic because it's ending already. But don't worry, I'm already done with it and it just needs to be posted in a few days... I'm back on business for now, of course until school comes again then... yes.


	9. Chapter 9

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter 9:

Dreams

For some reason, Ichinose Tokiya looked so relieved when Nanami Haruka told him that it was only Tuesday today.

To say that Haruka was shocked when she found a breathless Tokiya in front of her doorsteps was an understatement. She let him in, giving him a glass of water to calm down. After gulping the contents of the small container dry, the bluenet looked much better and he no longer had a stressed face as if the Reaper or a Titan was following him.

"Have you eaten?" The rosette asked and on cue, his stomach growled. He looked down with a blush on his face while Haruka chuckled, going to her kitchen. "Want me to cook you some pancakes?"

Blue eyes widened. "But we might get late…"

"Don't worry." She smiled, taking out a ready-mix pancake box from the cupboard. "It will take less than 10 minutes."

Before Tokiya could protest, Haruka opened the box and started preparing the mixture. Blue eyebrows furrowed, the bluenet sighed in defeat.

While the rosette was cooking his breakfast, Tokiya was dozing off on the sofa. He stared at the interior of her apartment with interest. Even though this was the second time he went here, he could not stop himself from being amazed. This was the place where her girlfriend lived. Even though she doesn't look like it, she's capable of living on her own. It made him proud. If Tokiya was the one living on his own, he knew he would be able to live with it. He grew in a lifestyle where maids would clean the mess he created and he ordered food from the famous restaurants all over Tokiya (Or if he was willing to wait, all over the _world)_. He doesn't know a single thing about house chores and cooking, it was embarrassing to his girlfriend.

_Not like it mattered, because later in life Haruka would the one doing all the chores while Tokiya would work for their family and—_

He shook his head in embarrassment. He was already thinking of having a family with her when she doesn't even love him.

_Great_.

"So…" Her voice stopped him from his train of thoughts. "Why did you decide to visit me so early in the morning?"

Tokiya became flustered, unable to speak. He couldn't just answer that; it would be too pathetic of him to admit that he freaked out because of one silly dream. What would Haruka think of him now if she knew he was the type of person to panic at simple things?

It seemed like all this thinking took out his energy for his stomach started creating a sound similar to a dying whale.

"I guess that can wait?" The rosette chuckled as she served the pancakes on the dining room.

If it was possible, his face became a deeper shade of red.

.

.

"You should build your own restaurant." The bluenet ate the small piece of pancake on his fork. "I'm willing to finance your business. I'm not joking"

Haruka smiled; a tint of pink visible on her cheeks. "That's very kind of you, Ichinose-san. But sadly, I'm not planning to be a chef in the future."

He raised his eyebrows, eating the flat bread with finesse even if it was obvious he just wanted to gobble it down his throat. "Is that so? Speaking of which, Nanami-san." He took the glass of water beside his hand and drank it. "Since we are in third year of high school, what course are you planning to take?"

"That's… random of you, Ichinose-san." She laughed warily. "That came out of the blue."

He set down his work, wiping his lips with some tissue Haruka offered before he answered.

"I was just thinking about our future."

Golden eyes widened, she gasped softly. It took a moment for Tokiya to realize it sounded as if he's asking her for marriage, he mentally smacked his face.

"What I meant was," He coughed awkwardly. "I want to know which college or university you will take, if we're still going to be close to each other by then. That's all."

Her shoulders relaxed, Haruka became a little red from embarrassment. "Oh, hehe." She forced a laugh that sounded really weird. "I'm planning to take on medicine."

"Medicine, huh?" He repeated, deep in thought. He wondered what college or university would be good for both their courses.

"How about you, Ichinose-san?" The rosette politely asked. "I assume you're taking something related to business?"

His eyes darkened, nodding slowly. The air suddenly felt cold.

Everybody knew that Tokiya is the heir of the Ichinose Corporation. Everybody expected a lot from him, especially his father. Because of all the expectations piling on his shoulders, he became what he is now: a man with a dual personality.

"Can you tell me the reason now?" Haruka asked, changing the topic. The bluenet blinked, before he spoke.

"I had a dream."

There was a moment of silence.

"Are you quoting Martin Luther King? Because if you are-"

"I meant it literally." Tokiya answered dryly, it shut her up. Funny, in his dream there was a scene where Haruka was reacting about Hayato quoting something. He sighed depressingly before he continued. "It was about you, getting hit by a truck in front of my eyes while I could not do anything to save you."

Well, basically, that just wasn't his only dream. He has this other dream about the test and basketball, but it was not important so he skipped that part.

Once again, there was a moment of silence. He wondered if it shocked Haruka that it left her speechless. After a few more blank seconds, she spoke.

"Did you know, people tend to have 4 to 7 dreams every night?"

…_What?_

"And did you know," She continued. "People who are blind also dream?" She chuckled softly. "Though there are no images, they can only hear sounds."

"Why are you telling me this?" Tokiya stared back at her.

The rosette only smiled. "Because I'm going to tell you a secret. Please don't tell anyone. This will be a secret between the two of us.""

He raised an eyebrow before he made hand gesture, telling her to continue.

"I was born blind." Haruka said in a tone as if she was just talking about the weather. Tokiya opened his mouth, but no words came out of his lips. What should he say in a situation like this? '_I'm sorry' or 'Really?'_ He really doesn't know.

She shook her head, chuckling. "No, _almost _blind, to be exact. I had a rare eye disease that ruined my eyesight before I even knew what my mother looked like. I experienced having normal eyesight when I was 7 years old, after I had a surgery." She pointed at her eyes. "Ever wondered why my eyes have the odd color of yellow?"

Tokiya nodded. Haruka leaned back on her chair.

"Well, that's the answer."

He was taken aback. He always thought she had very enchanting eyes, but he didn't know it turned the way it is because of a disease.

"You might be wondering why I'm telling you this all of a sudden." Haruka whispered, looking at him eye to eye. "It's because I don't want you to think you're alone, Ichinose-san. I, myself, lived a life that wasn't normal so stop thinking about what other people think of you too much."

"I know the reason why you were so hesitant to tell me why you're here. You think I might laugh at you because you're being silly, right?" She paused, reaching out the bluenet's hand across the table, he gasped. "Didn't tell you I'll accept you no matter what you maybe? Even the silliest things about you, I won't laugh at it. You are you, Ichinose-san. Don't be ashamed."

Tokiya sighed in defeat; it was as if the rosette was reading her mind. He really can't hide anything from her, because she knew how to read him just like an open book.

"You know everything." He said, staring at the empty plate in front of him.

"I don't know everything; I just know what I know." Was her answer.

.

.

They walked their way to school.

"I'm going to tell you _my _secret." Tokiya whispered, moving his hand slowly before it wrapped around hers. Haruka blushed; surprised that he was bold to do such a thing. Early in the morning and their own their way to school, to add that fact. Somehow, she always thought he wasn't the type of person who liked to hold hands in public. And it seemed like she was wrong.

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, ignoring the blood running through her face. "You still have more?"

The blunet chuckled. "It's not really a secret." He explained. "But more of a fact that only I knew. You said you were nearly blind up until you were seven years old, right?" She nodded, urging him to continue. He took a deep breath before he continued. "Well, I always had the feeling that my life started when I was seven years old."

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I have no memory from age six and below."

"Nothing at all?" She asked.

"Nothing at all." He confirmed.

They continued walking in silence, only the sound of their shoes as it hit the asphalt road was the only background noise you can hear. After a few seconds, Tokiya spoke again.

"I know it's normal for people to forget some memories from their childhood. But I've always found it odd one day, I just woke up. I knew my name is Ichinose Tokiya, I knew I was seven years old. But other than that, I knew absolutely nothing."

"Maybe you had a past injury that resulted to memory loss?" Haruka suggested.

"Maybe so." He nodded.

Suddenly, the atmosphere around them felt suffocating. If this was an anime, they would be releasing purple auras out of their bodies. But sadly, it was not. The rosette sweat dropped, changing the topic.

"Hey, Ichinose-san. Don't you think we seem like a real couple now?" She laughed forcefully, "I even cook you breakfast. If I cooked miso soup for you* this morning, don't you think we looked a married cou—"

Both of them stopped walking. Her facial muscles tensed up when she realized she just said something really weird. She slowly looked up, only to see wide blue eyes staring at him. For some reason, she saw a hint of… _happiness _in his eyes. Haruka blushed and looked away.

"Oh, look. We're here." Tokiya announced.

The rosette looked in front of them and saw the huge school gate. And as expected, one of Tokiya's messengers was waiting for his arrival. He was told that Shinomiya went berserk in the student council room and he was needed quickly. He nodded and told him to tell the members of the student council that he will arrive shortly. The messenger left.

"So… I guess duty is calling?" Haruka smiled sadly.

Before, she was often _relieved _when he leaves her. But now, it felt like there was a hole in the middle of her chest. For once, Haruka felt sad when Tokiya was leaving because of his job. He must have sensed her anxiety about his departure, for he did something Haruka expected him to do. _Ever._

"You know what will make us look even more of a married couple?" Tokiya pulled her closer and leaned down closer to her face. "A goodbye kiss."

Golden eyes widened, her breath hitched when he leaned even closer. From this distance, Haruka can smell his breath that still smelled like mouthwash that she lent him at home. It seemed like an eternity before she felt his lips… on her cheek.

He pulled away, a teasing smile on his lips. "See you later." He turned his heels and left.

Haruka stood in front of the school gate, dumbfounded.

And so another day at school started.

* * *

**Author's note: ***In Japan, when a boy tells a girl 'Make miso for me every day' or something along the lines, it's the same as asking their hand for marriage. Corny but sweet, I know xD

So. One of my stories got taken down by the admin of FFdotnet. Main reason for removal? I quote from the e-mail I read as soon as I woke up this morning,

"Rating: explicit content or adult content above current rating"

Oh, gee. Sorry. It seems like my story was so explicit you just HAVE to take it down. While YAOI fanfics ALL OVER fanfictiondotnet that are 10 times more descriptive that what I did WAS NOT that explicit for you that you didn't bother. Really, now? I just don't know what to say -_-

And to add fuel to the fire, I was about to post this yesterday, but they LOCKED my account so I can't submit anything. _Totally awesome_. Okay. Seriously. Glob, this pissed me off. Anyway, I need your help!

So, I need suggestions for the traits that Tokiya/Hayato will share in a chapter. For example, I'm going to make a date chapter and the trait acquired will be 'love' by Hayato. So yes, suggestions, prompts, and traits. I need them! Please tell me on your reviews!


	10. Chapter 10

Futari no Himitsu

Chapter 10:

Used

It was a common-practice in Japan to separate girls and boys during PE class. It was because boys play different sports than girls or maybe the teachers didn't want their male students to ogle at the female students' oh-so-revealing PE uniform.

Either way, Haruka was glad their first subject was PE class. For once in her life, she was _glad _to attend it even though it was her worst subject, she's terrible at sports, and she's even _more _terrible at group sports.

She was so glad it was PE.

After what happened this morning, Nanami Haruka didn't have the guts to see Tokiya again. After all, he held her hand _and_ kissed her in front of the student body. After he left with that proud smirk on his face, the people who saw them were looking at Haruka as if she was some slut or something. Just thinking about it made her crouch down on the floor and sulk in a corner.

It made her uncomfortable, how he could carelessly do those acts without being ashamed of it. Boldness wasn't really considered a 'bad' trait, so she could consider it was naturally in Tokiya's personality.

Weren't they being too fast? They just got close to each other the other day, and now they're already on the PDA stage! This was all too much for Haruka's faint heart, just a little bit more of Tokiya's surprising antics her heart would explode from embarrassment!

"Everyone!"

Everyone turned around, only to see their sexy and beautiful PE teacher Sone Anna. She was wearing red trainer clothes that would usually make a person wearing them look stupid, but in her care she made it look hot. She had long black hair that was tired in a ponytail, her longs bangs were swept to the side. Haruka always found her beautiful; her perfect white skin was worth envying for. She was also kind and friendly to all students, making both boys _and _girls be her fans. She could be a model if she wanted. But there was one thing about her appearance that creeper the rosette: her dead empty-like eyes. Even if she was smiling, her eyes seemed to tell another story. Maybe it was just Haruka's imagination, though.

"Kondo-sensei is absent today, and apparently I have to take over his class." Sone-sensei groaned, rubbing her temples in annoyance while her other arm had a volleyball tucked underneath. "So we'll be having a joint class with 3-C!"

Some girls jumped in excitement, happy to have their friends from the other section to be their classmate again. Haruka stood frozen, forgetting the fact that she should be stretching her body rather than gawk on the new incoming students.

"Haru-chan!" A familiar voice shouted.

The rosette blinked. Her smell of vanilla shampoo enveloped her senses, a fiery red head that was on par with her hair was all she could she. She was suddenly trapped in a tight embrace; she did not have to guess who her perpetrator was.

"Tomo-chan,"

The energetic red-haired pulled away, flushing her signature 'Shibuya grin' at her. Haruka smiled back, a tint of pink colored her cheeks. It has been a long time since they talked, she was so happy to see her again. Especially after Tokiya's amusing feat, she really needed to talk with her girlfriend about boy problems.

.

.

After all the students finished stretching, Sone-sensei called for a volleyball match between the two sections. The athletic girls raised their arms energetically, wanting to be called and impressed their sensei, wanting to show who the stronger class is. As expected, Haruka was not part of their section's team. If this was an academic battle, she's always on the list. But if it's about sports, she was deemed as 'useless'.

"Tomo-chan!" One of the girls from the other group called. "Why don't you join the game? We'll win this for sure if you're with us!"

Tomochika looked at her friend, who was tuck-sitting on the corner. Haruka looked up, only to see the other rosette giving her a look of concern. She forced a smile, waving her hand in dismissal.

"I'm, Tomo-chan! Don't worry—"She didn't even finish her sentence, Tomochika looked at the other girls and faked a pained expression at them, holding her stomach.

"Ah! Gomen, gomen!" She said, clutching her stomach while her other hand was scratching her head. "I ate a lot this morning and I don't think I can play for now! Maybe later."

The girls from 3-C shrugged and started choosing other students for their members. The tall red-haired turned around and sat right next to a worried Haruka.

"Tomo-chan, you didn't have to do that." She frowned.

"Do what?" Tomochika feigned ignorance.

"You know what I mean!" Haruka raised her voice, but not enough for the other people to hear them. "I know you didn't eat this morning. You told me a few days ago you're on a diet." The red-haired girl tensed up, shocked that she was caught. "You made an excuse not to play so that I wouldn't get lonely.

The tall girl sighed; it was no use to lie if her best friend was the all-knowing Haruka. Even though she can be dense sometimes, she's good at telling whether a person is lying or hiding something.

"But I _have_ to, Haru-chan." She shook her head. "I would exchange anything just to hang out with you again!"

Golden eyes widened, she was taken aback. "Tomo-chan…!"

"Saa…" She smiled teasingly, leaning closer before poking the rosette on the cheek. "Tell me about that romantic kiss this morning!"

Haruka became as red as her hair. "Y-y-you already know about that?!"

"Of course!" Tomochika in a tone that might as well be saying 'duh!' "It was what the whole school was gossiping early this morning!"

_So there were many people who saw it…! _The rosette wanted to slam her head against the wall. _I don't know if I still have a face to show the school!_

"So, was there tongue?"

The whole gym became silent. It seemed like Tomo-chan's voice was too loud because suddenly all eyes were on them. The matched even _stopped _because of her lewd question. Haruka's body tensed up, like a deer caught in the headlines.

"Was there tongue?" She repeated, sounding a little impatient. It seemed like she was still oblivious to all the stares the from all the people inside the gym.

"Shibuya-san," Sone-sensei coughed awkwardly, catching the loud-mouthed girl's attention. _Then _did she realized how loud she was, she gave Haruka an apologetic look but the rosette looked like she would faint anytime soon because of embarrassment. "Please talk about such… matters in private."

"Shut up, _baba_!" Tomochika shouted, making all the girls gasp because of her disrespectful action. "I know _you _want to know. I bet _everyone_," She said with emphasis, most girls blushed. "in this gym wants to know!"

After a few seconds, many girls nodded in agreement. Haruka squeaked, her heart felt like it was going to explode. This was more embarrassing than when Tokiya kissed her!

"For your information, Shibuya Tomochika!" Good thing Sone-sensei fired back, clearly pissed off that her ace in the track and field team was showing their usual interaction during club meetings. "I don't have any interest with my student's love life! I'm already happy with—"

"Oh right." Tomochika smiled teasingly. "I heard you're dating Ishimoto-sensei!"

Most of the girls in the gym gasped, while some (most likely Sone-sensei's fangirls) literally fainted. The PE teacher blushed furiously, before she could answer, the man mentioned appeared in front of the gym door.

He had black hair; his bangs always covered the left side of his face. His eyes were the color of yellow, but with a hint of green. He was wearing a white lab coat over a blue shirt. He was wearing black pants and pointed leather shoes. He was tall with a handsome face. Even though he was a science teacher, he's a really charming man. Most female students always ask him why he chose this profession instead of modelling, just like with Sone, he said he was here because of someone. It seemed like the two beautiful teachers have known each other for a long time, so everyone assumed that this 'someone' was actually her. This is Ishimoto Ren.

"Hone—"He shook his head, Haruka wondered why he mistook his colleague's name. "Sone-sensei, we need to talk."

"Uh-oh!" Tomo-chan shouted. "I sense a lover's quarrel!"

The other girls joined the teasing, shouting 'Don't break up!' or 'Our ship might sink before it even sailed!' Sone-sensai glared at them, before shaking her head and announcing to the class that she'll be gone for a few minutes and to continue the match without her. The girls shouted a 'Hai!', she gave them one last smile before standing outside the gym with the young science teacher.

The class started whispering.

"Don't you think they suit each other?"

"Sone-sama belongs to me!"

"Sone-sensei belongs to _everyone_; Ishimoto-sensei shouldn't hog her all to himself!"

Tomochika sighed, relieved that everyone forgot about what she said a few minutes ago. She turned and looked at her best friend, before she could open her mouth to ask her question again, Haruka beat her out of it.

"Is it alright calling Sone-sensei such names?" She bit her lips nervously. "Won't you get in trouble?"

The red-haired athlete blinked, before she bust-out laughing. No one seemed to mind them anymore, for they were still busy gossiping about the teachers.

"Oh Haruka!" She wiped the tear off her eye, "It's a norm for me to call her like that! Don't you remember I'm part of the track and field team and she's the advisor of the club? We're actually buds and we eat ramen together after practice! After all the ramen and sakes and I bought her, all she could pay back is to allow me to call her _baba_!"

Haruka nodded, though hesitantly. She knew Tomo-chan has the habit of being friendly with other people, to the point where she becomes _over _friendly and disrespectful. As her friend, she needed to remind the energetic girl about respect to other people.

In front of the gym, where the two teachers were talking, the beautiful shouted.

"—_AI_?!"

"_I sense a third party_!" The red-haired shouted, enough for her voice to echo until the outside of the gym.

Sone-sensei went back inside the gym with an angry look, it seemed like she heard Tomo-chan. She immediately went to the track and field ace, crushing her temples with her knuckles. The poor athlete winced in pain.

"_Shibuya_," She said with a smile but her tone was menacing, it sent chills to Haruka's spines. "Another word from you and I'll be giving you 100 laps on training. Understood?"

Tomochika straightened up, nodding fiercely.

Sone-sensei smiled again, now a demonic aura was emitting from her body. The two red-heads crawled away from her in fright. She turned and faced the court.

"Minna!" She shouted, catching their attention. "I'll be out for a bit! Please behave while I'm gone!"

"She's gonna have a date with Ishimoto-sensei!"

All eyes turned to Tomochika, she shook her head and made a gesture saying it wasn't her. They all turned to the other ace of the track in field team, a girl with short brown hair with a headband on her head, Ayumi. A nerve popped on Sone-sensei's head.

"That's it, Takahara. 10 laps on the oval later."

"What?!" Ayumi made the 'scream' face, the whole class laughed.

"That's all girls, see you in a bit!" She said before turning around to meet the other teacher, her voice became a whisper. "Who are we sending?"

"You know…" He said in a casual tone, their voices became softer and softer as they walked away from the building. "That corrupt politician…"

Once the two teachers were out of sight, the gossip, the game, and the two red-haired's chit-chat continued.

"Do you think it's alright for our teacher to leave like that?" She whispered.

"Meh," Tomo-chan only shrugged. "Enough about those two, tell me about the kiss!"

_She still remembered…_ Haruka sighed in disappointment.

"No tongue or yes tongue?" Tomo-chan looked like she was going to explode from excitement; she was literally jumping while she was sitting on the floor.

The rosette blushed.

"N-n-n-no t-t-t-tongue…" The energetic red-haired snapped her fingers, shaking her head in disapproval. "He kissed me on the cheek… I do not think Ichinose-san is the type so lick someone's cheek, Tomo-chan."

"WHAT?!" Tomochika stood up from her sit in shock. "He only kissed you on the _fucking _cheek?!"

All eyes went on them again; the whole gym became awkwardly silent. Haruka pulled the red-haired back on the gym floor, covering her face with her hands. Tomo-chan laughed nervously, telling the other girls to not mind them. After they went to their own business, the red-haired leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"What?! They told me it was on the _lips!"_

"L-l-l-lips?!" Haruka stammered, clearly shocked. So that's why she was treated being called a 'slut' because they thought she was making out with the president in front of the gate in the middle of the morning!

Amethyst eyes widened, a sudden idea came to her mind.

"Hey, Haru-chan?"

Haruka blinked. "Yes?"

"Have you ever..." She paused, looking away bitterly. The rosette wondered why she was making such a reaction. "Kissed Ichinose on the lips?"

The rosette blushed crimson. She looked down, closing her fist in embarrassment. "W-w-what made you ask all of a sudden?"

"Just answer, Haruka."

Haruka looked up, surprised that her best friend called her by her real name. Whenever she does this, it only means one thing: Tomochika was dead serious. And Tomo-chan wasn't the type to act serious, no matter what. Deciding that she should throw her shame away, the rosette answered truthfully.

"No."

"Have you held hands?"

"Yes."

Tomo-chan sighed in relief, hands on her chest. "At least he did that one…" She paused abruptly, her eyes dilated before she shook her head. "No, even _they _would do such a thing if they're desperate…"

"Tomo-chan," Haruka whispered, getting worried and tensed up because of the way the red-haired was acting. It was weird; she looked like a detective who was close on solving something. The question is: what is the mystery she was trying to solve? "Is everything alright?"

She looked at the rosette with such intense eyes; it made her gasp in shock. After a few seconds, it turned into a smile and she shook her head.

"No, it's fine." She said, but Haruka knew better. Her smile was a forced one. "Just answer my last question honestly."

Haruka nodded hesitantly.

"What was his reason why he asked you?"

She blinked.

"What?"

"Please, Haruka." She grabbed her hands, eyes were pleading. "You have to tell me! It's for your own sake!"

Haruka tilted her head to the side, frowning a little. She did not know why Tomo-chan needed to know, but it seemed it sounded so important so she'll just tell her. After all, they are friends. She can trust her among all the people in the world.

"He told me he doesn't know."

"'He doesn't know?!" Tomochika repeated, but this time she was so shocked, she only said it in a whisper.

Haruka nodded.

The red-haired placed her hand under her chin, doing the 'thinking' pose. If this was a normal event Haruka would have teased her, but since her tone sounded as so sharp it could cut her skin, the rosette decided to shut up.

"Haruka, please don't be shocked." Tomo-chan said, but it was only scaring Haruka of what was coming. "I'm going to tell you something really important, but first, take a deep breath. I don't want you having a panic attack or something."

Haruka arched an eyebrow but followed. She inhaled slowly, and exhaled. Tomo-chan patted her on the shoulder and opened her mouth.

"You're being used."

Haruka only gaped, unable to react.

"And what's even more disgusting," Tomochika gritted her teeth, her fingernails digging on her best friends shoulder. She winced in pain but didn't say anything. "You're being used as a cover."

"Cover?"

"Don't you understand?" She removed her hand, Haruka sighed in relief. "Okay, Haruka. Take another deep breath. Because I thought you would understand as soon as I told you."

The rosette inhaled and exhaled. After she was finished, Tomochika spoke.

"Ichinose is gay."

Haruka deadpanned.

"…What?"

"I know you're shock, Haru-chan." The red-haired said in a comforting tone. "I am, too but—"

"You don't even know Ichinose-san." Haruka said, the volume of her voice increased as each word escaped from her mouth.

"But Haruka," Tomochika grabbed both her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Doesn't it make you wonder? You're his first girlfriend. No one has ever seen Ichinose talked with any girl, so the whole school was shocked when we found out you're dating him out of nowhere!"

"And so?" She said in a voice that was much louder than her usual, it might as well be considered as 'shouting' in her case. "Just because he doesn't talk with girls you think he's gay?"

"Nanami Haruka." Tomochika shook her body softly, snapping her out of her growing anger. "It has been a long talk in our school that Ichinose and Ittoki are… like _that_."

Haruka made a face. _She _saw what they were like in the student council room. They acted like how Nanami would act around Shibuya. In other words, they were best friends. Has the world become this malicious they think of friendship as '_gay'? _If that's the case, every single one of us is homosexual because we have friends of the same gender!

"And maybe Ichinose heard about the rumors about him, so he tried to use any girl he could find just to cover up his sexuality and—"

"SHUT UP!" The usually silent rosette exploded, rising up from the floor. "Don't you dare defame Ichinose-san in front of my face!"

"Haru-chan…" Tomochika looked up at her, clearly surprised that for the first time, she heard her best friend raise her voice. And to add the fact she was doing it to _her_, _Shibuya Tomochika_, her best friend. She looked away, biting her lips. "He changed you…"

Haruka took a step back, tears brimming in her eyes. She wanted to apologize; she didn't mean to shout at her like that. But it doesn't mean she's her best friend she could talk about Tokiya like that!

"I'm… I'm going to call Sone-sensei—"Before she could even finish her sentence, a volley ball appeared out of nowhere and hit her on the head. Haruka fell flat on the floor, a loud thud echoed across the wide gym as her head hit the ground.

"Haru-chan…?" Tomochika crawled closer to her best friend, turning her body and brushing her hair off her face. "Haru-chan, are you—"

Amethyst eyes widened when her fingers felt something wet on Haruka's scalp. She slowly pulled her hand away, face slowly contorting to horror when she saw a red liquid on her fingers.

"HARUKA!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **Inspired by a certain review xD

I borrowed the three non-UTAPRI characters from different animes because I certainly am not fond of OCs. Clue: The two teachers and the student who was told to run 10 laps xD Can you guess who they are?

I'm still waiting for more suggestions!


	11. Chapter 11

Futari no Himitsu:

Chapter 11:

Yes!

Long lashes fluttered opened, the first thing Nanami Haruka saw was the blank white ceiling. The smell of medicine enveloped the air; she guessed that the slightly hard surface she was sleeping on was a bed. No doubt, since she used to be a frequent visitor of this place, she was currently inside the clinic.

She looked around and wondered how she got here in the first place. Haruka tried sitting up, only to feel an intense throb on the left hemisphere of her head. Wincing, she fell back on the bed, making a soft creaking sound.

"Oh," A familiar voice said. "You're awake."

Golden eyes widened, Haruka froze as the bed curtains were slid aside. She saw her boyfriend, Ichinose Tokiya, standing in front of her with a smile on his face.

Tomo-chan's voice echoed in her mind, the rosette couldn't help but look away. She remembered now. She shouted at her best friend, couldn't take the effect, and was about to walk out when something hit her on the head and Kami knew what happened next.

Tokiya mistook her action as pain; he went closer and gave her the water bottle.

"Careful, Nanami-san. The nurse said your wounds aren't deep, but it's not a good idea to move around that—"

"Are you gay?"

Blue eyes widen, Tokiya raised an eyebrow as if contemplating if he heard it right. Haruka knew this question would shock the heck out of him, but it was better to bring it up than later! She was not a woman of patience, if she wanted to know anything, she'll seek out the answer as fast as possible. Dilly-dallying only made matters worse, she'd want to prevent that.

Of course, she knew it was stupid to doubt her boyfriend's sexuality. She, of all people, knew how manly Tokiya can be. But after hearing Tomo-chan's words, she could not help but think of the possibility. She didn't want to think about it too much, but everything her best friend said just made sense.

Tokiya continued to stare at her, the longer he did, the more her doubt felt like reality. She clenched the sheets with her hands, waiting for his answer.

After a few more seconds, he closed his eyes and sighed. An amused smile decorated his lips, he began shaking his head. Haruka tensed as she sat on the bed, she did not anticipate such reaction. She would expect him to be flustered and deny such accusations. Or maybe get angry, for even asking him that question. Not _this_, he looked as if he wanted to laugh at a joke that he hear for the _nth_ time so the effectiveness completely disappeared.

"I assume you heard the rumors circulating around the campus?" He asked, opening his eyes. Haruka nodded and he continued. "That I'm apparently homosexual and I happen to have a relationship with Otoya, my best friend. Or in some stories, my other good friend, Hijirikawa. Or any other people they fancy to pair up with me.

"And because I'm the president and it would not do well for my reputation to have such accusations being passed throughout the school, I decided to date some random girl just to eliminate those allegations."

He paused and took a deep breath; looking at the rosette with serious eyes it gave shivers to her spines. "People have the hard time distinguishing whether a gossip is true or not. It may be the truth, but if the people think it isn't, then it is not. It may be lies, but if they believed in those tales, people consider it as the true. It doesn't matter if it's real or not, but if the people believe in it or not. So, Nanami-san, I ask you, do you think I am?"

Haruka bit her lips, looking away. Tokiya smiled sadly, sitting on the clinic bed to be closer to her. She moved away, refusing to be close to him but the bluenet grabbed her and pulled her to his chest. Golden eyes widened, a gasp escaped from her lips.

"Out of all the people in this world," He whispered close to her air, hand patting her head. "I did not expect _you _to doubt me."

She could not take it anymore, guilt won over as tears streamed from her eyes. She buried her face on his chest, hands clutching his shirt.

"I'm sorry." She cried, her sobs grew louder. "I'm sorry for asking such thing even if I already knew the answer."

"Shh," Tokiya tried to calm her down. "It's alright. I know how powerful the power of suggestion can be. I will not blame you if you've heard someone tell stories about me and had your doubts." He paused. "But I wonder, who was that person and what did he tell you to make you think that I'm homosexual."

Haruka pulled away, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her uniform. "It was Tomo-chan," She whispered. "My best friend."

"Ah," He nodded. "I understand. Of course, you'll believe the words of your longtime friend rather than a man who suspiciously forced you to date him out of nowhere."

"That's not it." She shook her head. "She gave me her reason why she thought you might be gay. I have been pondering about for some time, but now that someone else seemed to notice it, I couldn't help but wonder myself."

"Is that so?" He said. "Care to tell me about those reasons?"

Haruka looked up, eyes wide in shock. She looked away once more, afraid to tell him the reason she heard that was enough for her to almost turn her back on him. Tokiya patted her on the head, telling her that it was fine. She sniffed and nodded, proceeding to talk.

"First, she told me that you don't hang out with women. You were always around men, especially Ittoki-san." She said, making sure not to say the wrong words so that she could not offend him. "But now that I think of it, you don't like hanging out with other people in _general_. I think the possible reason is that you're afraid Hayato would appear and hurt those people. Which happened exactly to _me_." The bluenet nodded, meaning she stated it correctly. "And about 'you're always with men' part, you do not have any gender preferences on which should be your friends, but the boys, _STARISH_," She corrected. "Has always been there with you so you got stuck with them without a choice. It's not because they're boys so you hang out with them, they just _happen_ to be. If one of STARISH was a girl, I doubt you would mind it."

"Because you said first," Tokiya smiled, impressed with her answer. She seemed to have understood him more than he thought. "I guess there's a 'second' or possible a 'third'?"

Haruka nodded.

"Second, actually, this was what Tomo-chan first hinted but… okay." She rolled her eyes at her own lame explanation and continued. "You… are not p-p-p-physical with me."

Blue eyes widened, surprised at her reason. Haruka blushed, noticing his reaction. She gulped and continued.

"But the third reason was the real reason that made me wonder about you." She said. "You told me you don't know why you asked me out. Actually, after thinking about this reason, the two just popped out of nowhere to support the theory that you're gay but…" She shook her head and smiled at Tokiya. "It doesn't matter. I know you're not gay. You already showed enough of your sides to prove you aren't."

Tokiya chuckled, pulling her again in an embrace. Haruka was about to protest when he decided to lie down on the bed, dragging her with him. They fell on the bed with a loud thud, the rosette wasn't surprise that the nurse haven't told them to get out of the clinic yet.

"Though I am slightly hurt to think that you rather believed in them than me," Haruka sobbed, ready to cry in guilt when he laughed in amusement. She pouted and turned red, punching him playfully at the chest. "I suppose it was my fault for not explaining myself to you." He sighed, "I guess we still have to learn more about each other."

Haruka didn't say anything. Instead, she silently agreed by nodding. The bluenet chuckled before grabbing her waist and pulling her up, now they were face to face on the bed. Golden orbs stared at his sapphires, his warm breath against her pale skin.

"And because you were so kind of enough to tell me your reasons," He smiled at her. "I'll be willing to tell you _my _reasons for _doing _it."

The rosette nodded, waiting for his explanation.

"For your first reason," He paused before giving her a pat on the head, careful not to touch her injury. "I think I do not need to explain! You said my reason better than how _I _would elaborate it."

"So I was correct?" She asked in a shy voice.

He nodded. "More than correct, your explanation was exact to what I want to tell you. You're right about the fact that I don't like to socialize that much, I know it sounds horrible for I am the president of the student council, but I find it hassle when students come to talk to me."

Haruka nodded. She had seen what he was going through every day, at school. When they're together, students come to talk to him for different reasons. Some were representative from clubs who wanted a fund raise, some were students who wanted advice, some were his fans, while some just wanted to look popular because, 'Hey, look, I'm talking to the president!'. Just looking at it made her head spin, she didn't know what will happen to her if _she _was the one facing such trial every single day.

"And STARISH happened to be an all-boy group, I can't help it." He paused. "But I _do _have something I want to add so that you'll know about it…"

"What is it?"

"I _do _have something against hanging out with women. Well, _most _of the female population at least." Golden eyes widened, surprise at what he said. "It's not because I'm sexist or anything like that." He quickly added, before she could get any wrong ideas. "But when I was young, my parents had a divorced when I was one years old. I've always thought, if my mother was with me during the times my father would scream and hit me, don't you think she would have stopped it? I would not have suffered such a traumatizing childhood and I wouldn't have turned… like this?"

Haruka knew what he meant. If his mother was there to stop the abuse, Hayato might not have existed in the first place.

"It stuck to my mind that the first woman in my life abandoned me… So you can say it had an impact to my views. When I was in elementary school, I studied in an all-boys school. That's when I met my group, STARISH. We became friends since. And that's all the reason why we don't have a female member. During that time, I barely had any interaction with women aside from my teachers and servants at home.

"But when I was in middle school, I was enrolled in a co-ed school. The sudden appearance of many women in my life overwhelmed me." Tokiya made a face and shivered. "Let's also add the fact they treated me like a circus animal that was for show."

Haruka was about to ask what he meant by that when she realized. Middle school was the age when most children undergo the first stage of puberty; it wouldn't be surprising if Tokiya's male pheromones charmed her female classmates which in turn, scarred her views with the female race.

"I was stalked day and night." Tokiya said the encounters as if it all happened in one day. "Girls would take my picture without my permission. I found my locker being forced open, my gym clothes taken. My shoe locker was always filled with letters and gifts, it was maddening! Whenever I appear, girls would shout my name and call me on first name basis!"

The rosette watched his expression as he recounted his experiences to her. She couldn't help but smile in amusement at how expressive his tone and facial expressions were, it was nice hearing him talk about his past with such dread in his voice.

"So yes," He nodded, sighing as he finished remembering the terrors of women. "I have a hard time talking with women without having the feeling as if they were out to get me."

"It must have been hard for you." Haruka whispered.

His blue eyes that were once filled with terror as he recalled his memories were now gentle. The rosette once again realized how close they were it was making her uncomfortable. She looked away, but he cupped her face and forced her to look at him.

"Second reason, you said I wasn't physical with you." His voice became low; Haruka regretted saying that in the first place. "It was because I didn't want to force to."

"What?" Golden eyes widened.

"I don't think you're ready for more." He whispered. "I saw your reaction when I kissed you on the cheek, you looked as if you're about to explode in embarrassment."

Haruka turned as red as her hair. Well, yes. She has been thinking that they were going too fast, and it troubled her. But now, why did it sounded as if she _wanted_ for more? She doesn't really know. Maybe it was because of Tomo-chan's suggestion…

"And let me remind you of what Hayato did." His expression darkened, she really didn't need to be reminded. "I'm scared that I might have traumatized you. I love you, Nanami-san. I don't want to open a wound that's nearly healed." He paused, chuckling. "But it seemed like you also _want _me to—"

The rosette shoved her hand on his face, shutting him up. Tokiya chuckled; she put her hand away with a blush.

"But if it's physical affection you want…" He said. "I've always wanted to do more. But I'm scared that I might be hurting you so I don't want to push my luck. But only if you knew," He leaned closer, Haruka thought their lips would touch so she moved her face away. "Every night, I dream of wanting to touch you—"

She blushed, knowing where this was going. "Ichinose-san," She said. "Please, I do not need the details of how you masturbate thinking about me."

Tokiya blushed, but smirked.

"I didn't even say I was." He teased. "You have such a lascivious mind, Nanami-san."

Haruka opened her mouth for some retort, but no words came. She looked away, trying to act calm when she was caught red-handed.

"But If you're wondering," He added, just to make her even more flustered. "I do—"

"Ah!" She covered her ears, closing her eyes. "I can't hear you, I can't HEAR YOU!"

Tokiya laughed, pulling her hands off her ears. Haruka struggled, annoyed that her boyfriend was still not done with his teasing.

"But if it's physical affection you want," He repeated, but now with a much calmer tone. "Let's go on a date."

She blinked.

"What?"

"I mean think of it," He said. "During dates, we could hold hands, flirt around, and have our first kiss if you want! I think it's the perfect event for physical affection-"

"How could you say those things without feeling embarrassed?!" She shouted, covering her face to hide her blush.

Tokiya laughed, he _loved_ it when he's on the upper hand!

"So…" He stopped laughing, instead there was a smile implanted on his lips. "After we finish our exams, on Sunday, let's have a date!"

"Wait a minute!" She protested. "You still haven't told me why you asked me out!"

"I'll tell you on our date!" He promised. "Are you in?"

Haruka pouted, it took a moment before she answered.

"Yes."

With his free hand, the bluenet fist-pumped. She couldn't help but laugh at how cute he looked. After he stopped acting like an idiot, he sat up and pulled Haruka with him. Like a ragdoll, she followed. He smiled at her and leaned, once more, their faces were so close. Her breath hitched.

"I love you." He whispered. "Even if you don't, even if a day would come that you would detest me, I love you. Forever."

"I—" Before Haruka could finish her sentence, Tokiya grabbed her on the back of her head.

Golden eyes widened, as their lips finally touched. His lips were soft, just like how he imagined. Now that she thinks of it, maybe she the reason why Hayato avoided _her _kiss.

Because, he knew, that her first kiss should be with her boyfriend, not him.

Suddenly she felt his tongue probing her lips, Haruka gasped. Tokiya quickly grabbed the opportunity and pushed his tongue in. She moaned, their tongues glide around each other in a languid motion. First, it was only sweet. Tokiya wanted to make sure she can get a hang of it. After a while, he got impatient and became aggressive. Haruka didn't know why, but she like this feeling. It was making her light-headed, her mind devoid of any thought but 'It feels good'. It was all too much for the innocent girl, her body weakened and she fell on the bed, Tokiya followed her anyway, still continuing their tongue war even with the sudden change of position. After a few more seconds, they both ran out of air and pulled away.

"Is that enough physical affection for you?" He said in sexy breathless voice, wiping the string of saliva off his mouth.

Haruka blushed and opened her mouth to answer.

"YES!"

The two abruptly looked to their left, where the door is. Or _was_. Because of the weight placed on the door, the hinges broke and the door landed on the floor with a thud. As soon as the entrance fell, so did several men and one female.

"STARISH...?" Haruka blinked, wiping her mouth. "Tomo-chan?"

They immediately stood up, fixing themselves. They all laughed warily, silently panicking that they were caught. The rosette didn't seem to mind, but the blue-haired boy was already out of the bed, a dark aura emitting from his body. They all gulped in fear as he wore a deadly expression on his face.

"Care to explain why you people are spying on us?"

Oh, _yes, _indeed.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

WHO HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THE KISS?! I AM! ;D

Did my writing style change? Hm. Sorry if I didn't go very detailed with the kiss. Maybe this STORY MIGHT BECOME EXPLICIT and get TAKEN DOWN -_-. Enough about that. Oh no, Monday is getting closer! I don't want my summer to end! I'll be updating as much as possible while I still can because I'm serious, I'll be disappearing from the face of fanfiction dot net until Friday afternoon comes!


	12. Chapter 12

Futari no Himitsu:

Chapter 12:

An excuse to spend time with you

After an hour of giving the seven students who couldn't mind their own business a good old scolding, they flee from his sight as quickly as possible.

"_Mataku_!" Ichinose Tokiya rubbed his temples in annoyance. "Those people, spying on us like that! What are they, 7?"

He stopped grumbling when he heard Nanami Haruka chuckle, finding the grief of her boyfriend amusing. He pouted, crossing his arms.

"Mou! Nanami-san! Aren't you a little bit mad about what they did?"

She stopped laughing; only a light-hearted smile was planted on her face. Tokiya noticed how beautiful she looked sitting on the clinic bed. Lips were red and slightly bruised, cheeks were still pinkish, and her hair was still slightly dishevelled after their heavy make-out session. He couldn't help but smirk. Haruka noticed the look on his face, she blushed and looked away.

"Judging from your face, you're thinking about what happened earlier." She whispered, a hint of embarrassment in her tone.

"But I couldn't help it!" He raised his shoulders for emphasis. "You just looked so… _erotic_ while—"

"_Stop_!" She screamed, surprising the bluenet. It seemed like she, too, was shocked by her sudden outburst. She turned a little red, looking down on her lap, playing with the hem of her skirt. "Stop it," Her voice was now a whisper, the same level of voice as when they first talked. "It's embarrassing."

He smiled, walked back to the bed and sat beside her. Haruka crawled away, giving him space but Tokiya only pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry." He said softly to her ear, sending shivers to her spin. "I can't help teasing you. You just look so adorable when you're cornered."

She huffed and crossed her arms, Tokiya laughed and hugged her. Surprisingly, she did not protest. She just blushed while he was sharing his warmth to her body. Haruka blinked, remembering something.

"Ichinose-san, how long was I out?"

"About an hour and a half." He answered.

Haruka did the math inside her mind. An hour and a half, plus their—she blushed—cuddling time which was approximately thirty minutes, plush another hour for Tokiya's scolding session…

"So we've been here for three hours." Golden eyes widened. "Won't the teachers get mad?"

He shook his head. "Don't worry. It seems like our class for today got cancelled."

"Cancelled?" She repeated.

"Yes." He nodded. "It seemed like some politician disappeared without a trace. Some said it was kidnapping. Teachers were advised to let us stay at home for today until clear things up. While Hyuga-sensei said Shining only gave us extra time to study for the exams."

She raised her eyebrow at the last suggestion. Their principal doesn't seem that kind to give them extra time, so the kidnapping reason was most-likely. No matter how scary it might sound. The voice of Sone and Ishimoto-sensei's exchange echoed in her mind.

"_Who are we sending?"_

"_You know…" He said in a casual tone, their voices became softer and softer as they walked away from the building. "That corrupt politician…" _

"So when was it announced that our class will be cut short today?" Haruka asked, trying to forget about the cryptic memory.

"Hm." Tokiya looked up, thinking. "I'm not really sure. As soon as I heard you got into an accident, I immediately went here. I just heard about it from Hijirikiwa and the others when they came to visit you."

Golden eyes widened, surprised that STARISH went to all the effort to come visit her here. Or maybe they went here just to inform Tokiya about the cancellation, which seemed more like it. It's not like they're close with them in the first place. If it was Tomo-chan, sure. But it's them he's talking about…

"Ichinose-san," She called with an urgent tone. "Did Tomo-chan-"

"Bring you here?" He finished for her. "Yes. She's also the one who passed me the news. She was crying when she went to me and told me it was her fault why you got in that wound on your head."

"Tomo-chan…" Haruka whispered softly, Tokiya barely heard it if it weren't for his keen ears.

She remembered shouting at her best friend for accusing Tokiya as 'gay'. She didn't mean to do that, she was just mad that of all people, she expected Tomo-chan _not _to judge a person out of some random rumors. She had the urge to apologize to her.

"She was also here with me for the whole time you were unconscious, telling me about what happened." He continued.

She twisted her head to the side, so that she could see his face. "So you knew? About the gay thing?" she added.

He nodded. "I know about the rumors they're spreading to ruin my reputation. But I didn't know some people actually _believed _that about it. And as you told me, one of them was your friend.

"She confronted me about it while you were unconscious, telling me that I chose the wrong girl to use as a cover for my so called 'real sexuality'." Tokiya emphasized the words and rolled his eyes, Haruka laughed. "I told her that I'm a real man and I truly am in-love with you."

She blushed a little, he continued.

"She finally stopped shouting at me and left because she said unlike us, she's not that smart. But she left with parting words."

"What was it?" She asked.

He closed his eyes, chuckling. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and recited the lines with the same intensity as what Haruka recognized as Tomochika's way of speaking.

"If you try to hurt my best friend, I'm not afraid to hunt you down!"

Haruka's golden eyes widen, tears brimmed her eyes. She knew it was because Tomo-chan wanted her to be happy that's why she said those words. She did not mean to insult Haruka's boyfriend, but she only wanted to warn her of the possibility and did not want Haruka crying in the end. She smiled, happy to learn this.

She stopped, pulling away from the bluenet's embrace. Tokiya only watched her as she gave him a questioning look.

"So that's why you didn't look so shock when I asked you if you're gay!"

He shrugged. "Well, I was expecting you to ask me that sooner or later. But I was shocked when you asked me off the bat, as soon as you woke up."

"But why did you play dumb?" She furrowed her eyebrows, she felt as if she was made a fool.

Tokiya sighed, sensing the annoyance in her voice. "Nanami-san, I only wanted to know if you're going to believe me or Shibuya-san. So I acted like that."

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"Though you have to admit," The bluenet grinned at her like a fool, it made Haruka wonder for a second if it was Hayato who was currently speaking to her. "My speech sounded really awesome."

She nodded in agreement. "Yes. It was somehow… quote-worthy, I should say."

He puffed his chest proudly, Haruka shook her head, couldn't believe her boyfriend was acting so childish.

"Oh, fifteen minutes after she left, you woke up by the way." His eyebrows furrowed. "But after their spying incident failed, I guess she only disappeared to call the other members of STARISH to spy on us." He shook his head in disapproval. "The nerve."

"Wait," She said. "You said Tomo-chan left me to study, how about you. Why didn't you leave?" She was greeted by a look that said 'isn't it obvious. "Don't tell me you waited for me to wake up."

He nodded, smiling.

"You didn't have to, Ichinose-san." She frowned. "You should have gone home and study rather than wait for me."

"But I decided to study _with_ you today." He argued. "After all, I _am _your boyfriend. I think it's my duty to help you with your studies, right?"

Haruka sighed. "You do know that I am capable of studying with my own. After all, I _am_ part of the top 10."

Tokiya blinked blankly, as if he wasn't aware of that. The rosette shook her head, muttering a soft 'I can't believe you'.

He moved a bit closer, Haruka expected him to hug her again but instead he rested his chin on her head. She winced in pain, Tokiya remembered about her injury. He apologized profusely, but she told him it was alright. Tokiya now rested his chin on her shoulder, which was better because it was closer to her ear and she like hearing his voice so close.

"Or maybe I'm just making an excuse so I can spend time with you."

She felt blush rushing to her cheeks. For some reason, this reminded Haruka of their time inside her apartment. Tokiya was being honest with her, saying words so sincerely in a way she never imagined he was capable of doing. He seemed like a distant guy at first, but it turns out he was really sweet and honest. She was willing to see more of these different sides of Tokiya.

"Fine." She said, feigning defeat. "Let's study. Together."

Blue eyes widened, glittering in delight. He nodded with a grin.

As each day passed, it seemed like Tokiya is turning into a different person. Unknown to them, he has been unconsciously absorbing Hayato's traits every day. No matter how slow it was. It will only be matter of time before Ichinose Tokiya will become a normal person. Like every single one of us.

.

.

The two were currently at the city library, even if the librarian was skeptical to let them in because she knew about the orders to make sure students go home early. But once the y stated their purpose, the librarian gave up and let them in.

"This is so nostalgic!" Haruka eyed the bookshelves with great interest. "I used to visit here so that I could study for the Saotome entrance exam."

"Is that so?" Tokiya said, following the rosette as she went to the second floor of the building and chose a special table near the huge window.

She patted the table, before pulling out the chair. She looked at it the furniture as if it was a sentimental treasure to her, the bluenet couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He decided to keep quiet, taking the seat in front of Haruka so they could look at each other face to face.

"What is your weakest subject?" Tokiya asked, taking out his notes from his bag and placing it on the table. Haruka looked up, placing her index finger on the side of her lips.

"Um… I have a hard time in Chemistry and—"She paused, golden eyes widened when she saw Tokiya wearing a pair of _glasses_.

He blushed, looking away. "Please don't stare at me like that." He whispered, clearly embarrassed. "I lost my contact lens a yesterday so…"

Haruka blinked, realizing that she was caught ogling at her boyfriend's face. She defensively shook her head, raising both her hands for emphasis.

"I'm sorry for staring!" She said. "This is the first time I saw you wearing glasses; it just caught me off-guard." She laughed warily. "But it suits you really well, Ichinose-san!"

Tokiya raised his glasses, the insecure look on his face disappeared. Instead, there was a gentle smile decorating his face. He reached out her hand, Haruka's heart started beating fast.

"Don't tell me you have a megane-fetish?"

Haruka blushed, furrowing her eyebrows while puffing her cheeks.

"I do not!" She shouted defensively, her voice echoed throughout the silent place. From downstairs, they heard the librarian shout a 'Please keep quite'. Haruka quickly shouted her apology, while Tokiya tried to contain his laughter. After the rosette stopped panicking over the ruckus she created, she went back to her seat. The bluenet looked at her and then sighed, crossing his arms.

"How unpleasant." (_Fuyukai desu_.)

Haruka clearly understood the reference. She took her bag and threw it on his face, which he caught with one hand.

"I told you," She tried to keep her voice quiet, but the intensity of her annoyance can still be noticed. "I do not have a megane fetish."

He smirked. "Right."

The rosette rolled her eyes, seizing the bag from his hand."Let's start!" She took out her things from inside the bag, changing the topic. The bluenet looked happy with his victory before nodding.

.

.

After reviewing every material that would probably come out in their test tomorrow, Haruka released a sigh. Tutoring session with Tokiya was intense, he had this no-nonsense attitude that he rarely display towards her. It somehow scared her, how he was teasing her a few minutes ago and then now he was acting like scary Hyuga-sensei.

_As expected from a person with a dual personality_.

"You're quick to understand." He noted, taking off his glasses. Golden eyes widened, which was immediately noticed. "Would you prefer it if I wore this while talking to you?" He smirked.

Haruka pouted, glaring at him. "No. You can take it off."

Tokiya chuckled, returning his glasses on its case. "Otoya took ages before he understood the ideal gas law!" He continued his previous statement, which she was thankful for because it meant she will no longer get bullied.

"Ichinose-san," She said, rubbing her temples. "I _told _you, I'm part of the top 10 in our year. Of course things like this are easy for me."

"I know." He wrinkled his nose. "I was just messing up with you."

The two started fixing their things, a moment of silence passed between them.

"So…" Haruka decided to break the silence. "I've noticed you're really close with Otoya."

He nodded. "Yes. Out of the seven if my friends, he was the first one to accept Hayato without thinking I was a freak."

The rosette pondered about what he said, placing her pencil inside her pencil case. Ittoki seemed like that kind of person, the type to stick with his friends no matter what people might think of him.

"He was also the one who persuade the other members of STARISH to study at Saotome Academy. He told them that the group wouldn't be the same if one member was missing, which was me."

Golden eyes widened, she stared at him in disbelief. "So it wasn't a coincidence that you seven have been studying in the same school since elementary?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No, we were supposed to go our separate ways in high school. But one day, they decided to go to some other school named Ootori Academy, but when they found out I was going to study at Saotome, they joined me because of Otoya's persuasion."

"Why did you study at Saotome in the first place even if it risked you to be separated from your friends?" Haruka couldn't help but ask.

He smiled at her and winked.

"It's a secret." Haruka pouted. "How about you, Nanami-san. Why did _you _study at Saotome?"

She gasped, surprised that she was asked. She looked away, a blush on her face.

"It's because… my father used to study here." She whispered shyly. "I'm trying to follow my father's footstep that's all."

"Really?" He looked genuinely curious. "That's some devotion, and you said a while ago that you used to go here just to study for the exam."

She nodded, fidgeting as she returned her notebooks inside her bag.

"It's because I decided it since I was young." Her voice was overwhelmed with determination; Tokiya couldn't help but stop at what he was doing just to stare at her. "I'm going to be just like my father. I will study hard and become a good doctor that will bring hope to her patients!"

"That's nice," Blue eyes darkened, looking down on the heel of the chair. Haruka noticed the sudden change in his tone. "To have your own dream."

She didn't have to guess. After what Hayato revealed to her on the rooftop, it wasn't hard to connect the dots. Tokiya has lived his entire life following his father's instructions; he wasn't allowed to say 'no'. Failure to comply resulted a beating from him. It must have felt like he was just a puppet in his father's plan to expand the Ichinose Empire.

"You know," Tokiya tried to sound cheerful, changing the topic. "My mother is also a doctor. She's an Ophthalmologist."

Golden eyes widened in delight. "Really? That's amazing!"

He grinned. "I know. I'll want you to meet her when she visits me."

"M-m-meet her?!" Haruka became red. "Wait a minute, aren't we being too fast—"

"That's not what I meant!" He chuckled, amused that her girlfriend was already thinking about such things. "I just want you to talk with her, you know. To answer your questions about medical school or something."

She nodded, smiling at him. "Thank you, Ichinose-san. That means a lot for me."

He shook his head.

"I only want to help."

After a few minutes of cleaning, they head down and left the library.

.

.

"Ichinose-san," She called as they walked their way to Haruka's apartment. Even though she said she can go home by her own, Tokiya insisted to walk with her. "While we were in the clinic, you told me the first woman in your life abandoned you. While we were in the library, it seemed like you were proud of her. I actually expected you to resent her or something."

Tokiya stopped walking, staring at her in disbelief. Haruka also stopped, realizing how insensitive she sounded. She immediately panicked.

"I'm sorry, that's not—"She immediately shut up when he continued walking, entwining his hand with hers.

"It's okay." Tokiya said calmly. "_I'm_ the one who should be sorry for making you think like that."

They walked in silence; Haruka wondered if he's going to let the topic slide but decided not to say anything. After a few minutes he sighed.

"It's not like I resent her." He explained. "More of… I felt _disappointed_ that she would leave me like that with Otou-sama."

_Otou-sama_, Haruka echoed in her mind. This shows how distant he is with his father.

"But it's alright!" He forced a smile; it was somehow painful to look at. "Because of visitation rights, Okaa-san visits me twice a month."

"_Twice a month_…" She repeated. "That's…"

"Not enough?" Tokiya continued for her. "But it can't be helped; it was decided during their divorce. It seemed like the Ichinose Empire need an heir while my mother didn't. My father said it would be best if I didn't meet her, but that would violate my mother's right as my parent."

A moment of silence.

"I'm sorry for making you talk about such a painful subject."

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. That happened sixteen years ago. There's no point crying over the past." He looked at her, "How about you, Nanami-san? What about your parents? They seemed really nice towards you."

Haruka fell silent.

"My father died after I got my eye surgery. I never got to see his face. Only in pictures." She said blankly, even though it feels painful until now. "While my mother left me as soon as I was born. I've been living with my grandmother since Otou-san died."

Awkward moment of silence.

"I…" He scratched the side of his face, unsure what to say. "I'm sorry."

Haruka shook her head. "No, you're right. There's no point crying about the past."

Before Tokiya could say anything else, the rosette pointed at the building in front of them.

"Oh look, we're here." She turned around and faced him, slinging her bag on her back. "Thank you for walking me home and for the free tutor session." She forced a smile, Tokiya didn't smile back. "I'll be going—"

Golden eyes widened, she found her face buried on his lean chest. Tokiya exhaled angrily, arms wrapped around Haruka's small form tightly.

"You don't need to sound nonchalant about it." He whispered. "Don't hold back your tears."

_And so she did._

Tokiya walked her towards her apartment. Haruka insisted that she was already fine, but he said she sucked at being a liar. He stayed at her apartment for at least 3 hours, until Haruka calmed down. It was already around 5 pm when he left, telling her these important words that would never leave Haruka's mind starting this day on.

"It's not fair that you saw my vulnerable side. Please Haruka, lean on my shoulder. You might not know it, but I heard what you said to Hayato: Don't bare the pain all to yourself."

Nanami Haruka was so glad her boyfriend was Ichinose Tokiya.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

**EDITED: **Thank you for BloomFreenz for informing me I accidentally posted the wrong chapter :)

Did you guys get the 'Fuyukai' reference? I'll hand it to anyone who knows it xD

Tomorrow is Monday. I nicely wrote 'End of the World' on my calendar. I DON'T WANT TO ATTEND SCHOOL! NOT YET. I AM NOT HAPPY. Okay guys. Please remember that I love you so much and I WILL return. Because this week, we're just going to do the 'introduce' yourself thing so we won't have quiz/exams. YET. Okay. I finally knew the feeling that you wished this day wouldn't end. Seriously. Once again, I LOVE YOU GUYS~! Good thing we have a holiday on Thursday so I _might _be able to update. Until then, bye guys!

P.S.

I'm sorry if I might get late on replying to review or PM. I really am.


	13. Chapter 13

Futari no Himitsu:

Chapter 13:

Do I have to remind you?

"Time's up." Hyuuga-sensei announced, tapping at his wrist watch. "Pass your test papers forward."

Nanami Haruka sighed, placing down her mechanical pencil as well as her lucky animal eraser. Call it ironic, but the shape and the color of that animal eraser was a black cat. Black cats were considered as the symbol for bad luck, but for Haruka, it was her beloved eraser that _Obaa_-_chan_ gave to her before she left for the city.

Today was Saturday, the last day of their exams. For the last four days, she has been battling with the monster called 'mid-term exams' and she can openly admit the she has defeated this abomination without breaking a sweat.

Of course, this was because of Ichinose Tokiya. She was glad that her boyfriend tutored her, even if she knew she understood the lessons well, having some 'genius' explain the subject a little bit more really helped her.

Hyuuga Ryuuya congratulated the class for all their hard work and told them to enjoy their earned weekends. He bid farewell and left.

As soon as the door closed, everyone in class either rejoiced or mourned. Some students started chattering, asking one another if they knew the answer on a certain question, so on and so forth. While some took their leave, trying to forget the possible outcome of their test.

Haruka stayed on her chair, trying to recollect her thoughts. Even though she said that she found the test as easy, it goes without saying that it took a toll on her body. All that thinking made her head messed up, all the formulas and the important dates still echoed in her mind. She only snapped out of her daze when she heard a sound of a chair being pulled.

"So," A voice called. "How was the test?"

She looked in front of her, only to see Tokiya leaning on her table with a smile on his face. Judging from the look on his face, _he _didn't find it really hard.

_Of course_, Haruka chuckled inside her mind. _He _is _Ichinose Tokiya. No test is considered 'hard' for him._

"It was fine." She answered softly. "I answered everything with ease because you helped me study."

The bluenet puffed out his chest proudly, like a young pre-schooler boosting to his teacher about his work. Haruka laughed, finding it refreshing to see her boyfriend act like a child and not some high-schooler who acted too old than his real age.

I know I said it a few times already, but the reason for Tokiya's sudden change of demeanour is because Hayato's personality is slowly joining with his each day.

"How about you?" Haruka asked, just to be polite. "How was it?"

Tokiya smirked arrogantly; you can guess that the rosette automatically rolled her eyes. Raising an invisible pair of glasses, he answered.

"Basic."

"Oh?" The young girl feigned shock, humouring the male for her _own_ entertainment. "Is it now?"

But of course, Tokiya won't be considered as a genius if he can't even identify someone who was just trying to play along with his game. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Enough about the test," He said impatiently. "How about our date tomorrow?"

Golden eyes widened, the muscles on her small body grew stiff. Haruka laughed warily, scratching the side of her face while avoiding his gaze. Tokiya deadpanned, clearly not amused with her reaction.

"You forgot about it?" He asked, but it sounded more like a statement rather than a question.

Shyly, Haruka nodded. The bluenet face-palmed, releasing a sigh of exasperation. The rosette forced a smile, trying to hide her guilt.

"Sorry about that, Ichinose-san." She whispered, trying to calm him down. "I was so worked up with the test that I have completely forgotten about our promise from last Tuesday.

"It's okay." Even though he said that, his facial expression as well as the tone of his voice seemed to contradict. "What's important is," He sighed again, probably trying to erase the disappointment that Haruka just forgot about their plan so easily. "We can talk about our plan for tomorrow."

The rosette blinked blankly, tilting her head to the side. Tokiya contained his voice, but failed dramatically. Even if he was still hurt about how the rosette seemed like she didn't care about their date, he just can't help but forgive her when she's being this adorable.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked.

Golden eyes widened, she sat up straight and opened her mouth to answer. Tokiya was surprise that Haruka immediately thought of something. He guessed that it was probably the mall or some fancy restaurant all girls want to visit, according from what he heard Jinguuji Ren said about where girls would like to go on their first date.

But instead of hearing her answer, his phone started ringing.

A nerve popped on Tokiya's head. He smiled tightly to her and excused himself; Haruka said it was fine so he fished out his phone from his pocket, only for him to stop on his tracks and it felt like someone kicked him on the stomach when he saw the caller phone.

The bluenet declined the call and returned the small gadget on his pocket. He returned his gaze back to the lovely red-haired and made casual 'Continue' hand gesture.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Haruka asked curiously.

Blue eyes darkened, Tokiya slowly shook his head.

"It's not important." He said nonchalantly. "It's probably _Otou-sama_ telling me to go home and do my job on our company."

"You _help _your father on managing your company?" She shouted in disbelief.

He raised an eyebrow, nodding. He found her reaction as odd, until he realized that not all people were raised like him. Not everyone was raised and _designed _to be a business tycoon like how Ichinose Tokiya was born and _forced _to believe he was.

"I've been helping in our company since I was 10." He added.

Haruka looked completely impressed. Tokiya felt a sense of happiness in his chest; it seemed that his girlfriend finally found something about him as 'amazing'_._

He was about to tell the rosette to forget about the call and tell him where she wanted to go. But before he could properly construct his sentence, his phone started ringing.

_Again_.

Tokiya angrily gritted his teeth, while Haruka told him to just answer the call. The bluenet smiled at her and thanked her for understanding as he took out his phone and answered it. The call lasted less than 5 seconds for the Ichinose head immediately hung up, he was a busy man so he can't waste time talking to his son. The bluenet sighed, placing the phone back to his pocket.

"He told me to go straight to the company because he's going to boost me to the other CEO of different companies in Tokyo." He said as if he's just talking about the weather.

Judging from what Tokiya said, Haruka can't help but feel distaste for his father. _Obaa-chan _told her that it was bad to judge someone without knowing them personally. But after hearing that he used to beat up his son just because he wasn't 'perfect' and he's displaying his son to his workmates like some trophy or something, it was really not helping his image in her mind.

"Are you going to leave?" Haruka asked, even if she already knew the answer.

Hesitantly, he nodded. Somehow, she felt a sudden ache in her chest. She tried to make it look as if it was alright for him to suddenly leave, but Tokiya knew her more than she thought.

"Meet me at Sakuramichi Street tomorrow. 10 am."

Haruka blinked.

"What?"

"Oh Nanami," He wagged a finger at her face, mocking her. "You have such a short memory! Do I have to remind you that it is Date with Haruka day tomorrow?"

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Obaa-chan- grandmother (close)

Otou-sama- father (with high respect)

Oh my gosh. Sorry guys for the late update! School has been such a monster on me. Every time I return from school, I feel like an elephant decided to play jump rope on top of me -_- And we still don't have exams yet. Oh boy, the horror. Sorry for those people I haven't PM-ed yet. As I said before, I've been really busy I can't reply yet. Please wait for a little bit longer and I will reply to you soon!


End file.
